


Love Notes and Lockers

by Beef94



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-01
Updated: 2020-05-13
Packaged: 2020-06-02 08:31:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 17
Words: 22,459
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19437742
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Beef94/pseuds/Beef94
Summary: For four years Lance has been hopelessly in love with one Keith Kogane. In their senior year Lance decides he needs to take action, except he's far too awkward to say more than three words to Keith. Roping his best friend Hunk into his plan, Lance spends his days posting a variety of cheesy love letters through Keith's locker. What unfolds is series of awkward and hilarious events. Will Keith realise Lance is his secret admirer? Or is Lance forever doomed to remain on the outskirts of Keith's life?





	1. Heaven and Hallways

**Author's Note:**

> First Klance/first ever fanfic I've written- go easy on me and enjoy (hopefully) haha x

Keith frowned as the carefully folded piece of paper fluttered out of his locker and landed at his feet. He quickly looked around, trying to see if anyone was watching him. Gingerly, as if handling a bomb Keith opened the note. His curiosity quickly gave way to embarrassment as he read the contents. "Hi, how was heaven when you left it? X”

 _Pidge._ He thought to himself angrily, his best friend had a penchant for practical jokes and this seemed exactly like something she would do.

  
"Heaven was pretty gutted when I left, thanks for asking." He whispered to the mass of short brown hair in front of him. Pidge spun around, staring in confusion at Keith.   
"What? Is this more of your weird emo poetry Keith? Cause I've told you before I'm sorry but I just don't get it." She asked, adjusting her glasses on her face.   
"No I'm talking about this." He hissed, waving the note in front of her face as she grabbed the paper from his hand. Quickly scanning the note she couldn't help but burst out laughing, causing Keith to turn an interesting shade of red.   
"This is majestic but I'm afraid I can't take credit for this one. Looks like you have a secret admirer!" Keith sputtered in response and snatched the note back off Pidge.   
"Do you want to say that any louder Pidge? I don't quite think the entire school heard you." He hissed, crumpling the note in his fist and shoving it in his bag.   
"Besides what a ridiculous notion. This is just some stupid prank, and I'm going to find the person responsible." He declared angrily before turning and striding through the hallway.   
"I'll see you in Geography then?" Pidge called out, still chuckling slightly she shook her head before heading to class.

…

Now with a third note tumbling out of his locker, Keith was no closer to figuring out who was sending them. "Hey, you're pretty and I'm cute. Together we'd be pretty cute! X” Keith smiled to himself, he was beginning to wonder whether Pidge could be right. His heart skipped a beat at the thought, before he quickly squashed the familiar stirrings of hope. The last time he had allowed himself to think someone liked him was in his freshman year. He had been cruelly rejected by the boy in question and despite now being in his senior year the memory of the humiliation and pain was as fresh as it had been four years ago.   
_Don’t be ridiculous_. He chastised himself. _This is definitely some sort of prank._ His frown deepened as he surveyed the students around him, wondering which one of them was setting him up. Slamming his locker shut he hurried towards class, cursing his mysterious note sender. Keith angrily pushed open the set of double doors at the end of the hallway, stopping when he heard a strangled cry. Glancing down he saw a vaguely familiar looking boy sprawled on the floor, clutching his head.

“I think you broke my face.” The boy moaned, rolling around the corridor. Keith rolled his eyes, not in the mood for this boy’s amateur dramatics.

“I think the least you could do is help me up Keith.” He added stubbornly, holding his hand out expectantly.

“How do you know my name?” Keith asked warily, grunting as he pulled the boy to his feet.

“I’m Lance.” The boy replied, his face dropping slightly as it became obvious Keith had no idea who he was.

“We have English class together?” He added, wishing the ground would swallow him as Keith continued to stare blankly at him.

“Right, okay. Well watch where you’re going next time.” Keith scowled as he adjusted his bag and stormed away.

“I guess I’ll erm, see you in English then?” Lance muttered to himself, sighing deeply as he gathered his belongings off the floor.

 _Great going McClain. Real smooth._ Lance rubbed his head, throwing one last glance at the receding figure of Keith before hurrying to his own classroom.


	2. Rock, Paper, Plan?

“Pidge you need to help me. These notes are driving me insane!” Keith whispered from behind his Geography textbook.

“What do you want me to do? I’m not some sort of psychic Keith.” Pidge shot back at him whilst pretending to make notes on the various types of rocks that existed.

“You’re good with all that technology and computer stuff, surely that counts for something?” He replied, unaware of the glances they were beginning to receive off their teacher. Pidge stifled a laugh behind her own textbook before rolling her eyes at Keith.

“I can’t hack a few pieces of paper Keith! Nor do I have the means, time or technology to analyse every person in the schools handwriting.” Keith groaned and slumped down in his chair.

“Holt! Kogane! What’s going on back there?” They both jumped as their teacher fixed them with a glare.

“Oh, nothing. Keith just ate a dodgy burrito for lunch, I don’t think it’s agreeing with him.” Pidge answered sweetly, wincing slightly as Keith’s shoe connected with her shin under the table.

“Please Pidge.” Keith begged, after he was certain the icy stare of their teacher had left the pair.

Staring up at her best friend, with his unruly black hair sticking up at various angles, and his grey eyes pleading, she sighed. Saying no to Keith was like kicking a puppy, _and besides, if we find out these notes are legit Keith might actually have a shot at happiness._ She thought to herself before gently nudging Keith with her shoulder.

“Fine. But I demand payment. In the form of donuts.” She told him, smiling as he nodded earnestly.

“I’m talking good donuts though, none of those Krispy Kreme monstrosities.” She wrinkled her nose.

“I don’t understand your problem with Krispy Kreme. I mean, what did those donuts ever do to you Pidge?” He shot back jokingly.

“Dunkin Donuts or no deal.” Pidge held out her hand.

“Fine. Deal. We’ll start planning tonight.” Keith shook her hand before turning back to his text book. He almost jumped out of his seat as he saw their teacher looming over them, arms folded across her chest, an unimpressed eyebrow raised at the pair.

“Are you two quite finished or is my class still interrupting your clearly very important conversation?” She asked them, her tone somewhat menacing. Keith shrunk down in his seat muttering an apology before staring pointedly at the random page his book was open on. Pidge however appeared unruffled by the situation unfolding before them.

“Sorry, we were just so moved by your riveting lecture on rock formation we couldn’t contain our excitement . We were thinking of starting our own rock club.” She replied flippantly as Keith buried his head in his hands. Pidge never knew how to quit while she was ahead.

“Well, I guess you can have your first meeting after school. In detention.” Their teacher glared at them one last time before stalking away.

“I hate you.” Keith mumbled.

“Nah, you don’t.” Pidge replied smiling. 

…

“What’s the verdict doc? Am I still beautiful? Tell me I’m still beautiful!” Lance swooned in his chair, earning him a light punch off his best friend Hunk.

“You’re such an idiot. Once the bruise fades, you’ll be back to your usual attractive self.” Hunk replied, stretching as he stood up. Spinning around Lance stared at himself intensely in one of the dressing room mirrors. Gently touching the bruise he had received from his collision with the door, he pulled a face.

“Do you think it makes me look more bad ass and dashing?” He asked, attempting to brush some of his carefully styled hair over the bruise.

“Yes Lance, the boys will all be fighting over you when you step outside.” Hunk patted Lance gently on the shoulder as Lance groaned.

“I just want one boy to fight over me. And so far all he’s done is fight me with a door.” He mumbled into his hands. Hunk sighed before spinning Lance back around to face him.

“You have been pining over that Kogane boy for four years now Lance, and I think I can count on one hand the number of times you’ve interacted with him, including today. Just ask him out already.” Hunk said, poking Lance in the chest.

“Hunk, it’s not that simple! He didn’t even know my name this morning, I can’t just ask him out!” Lance declared, cringing at the memory of their earlier interaction.

“What and you think leaving him these notes is going to work? He’s not going to know who you are if you just keep posting cheesy one liners through his locker in the mornings.” Hunk threw his hands up in the air, despairing at his best friend.

“My dear Hunk, the notes are cute and exciting and I’m sure Keith is really enjoying reading them. Besides, I’m possibly maybe slightly too much of a chicken to actually properly talk to him outside of asking to borrow his pencil sharpener…” He replied, his voice trailing off.

“Lance McClain, you’re possibly the most confident, self-assured, occasionally arrogant but still charming guy I’ve ever met. What is it about this boy that reduces you to a stuttering awkward mess?” Hunk grabbed Lance by the shoulders, shaking him lightly.

“Wow don’t hold back Hunk… I don’t know there’s just something about him. Ever since our first day in English together, he just seemed so different from all the idiots in there. And then when that asshole Daniel humiliated him in front of the whole school I just wanted to be with him, to make everything better.” Lance tried to explain, a far away look in his eyes.

“Okay, okay. You can keep sending the notes but seriously dude, you have to start trying to talk to him. This our senior year, you don’t have many chances left to make a move.” Hunk told him sternly.

“Now come on, we’re late for rehearsal.”


	3. Coding and Revelations

Pidge glanced idly over at the computer screen of the guy sat next to her and burst out laughing.

“Hunk, I’m pretty sure that buzzfeed quiz on what type of bread you are based on your personality isn’t the coding we’re supposed to be doing.” Hunk turned scarlet as he quickly minimised the tab.

“I was just taking a quick break… Anyway, it’s very important I know what type of bread I am, for, y’know, future reference.” He cringed internally and willed himself to just stop talking.

“It’s okay. I’m sure you’re a really cool and interesting loaf of bread.” Pidge smiled, patting him gently on the shoulder.

“Can’t say I blame you either. This coding is the most basic, tedious piece of work ever.” She complained, slowly scrolling through her pages of code.

“Yes… Basic…” Hunk added unconvincingly, staring at his half a page of code.

“I think I prefer the buzzfeed quizzes.” He added, sighing before quickly pressing random keys as their teacher wandered behind them.

“It’s a good job Haggard is practically blind.” Pidge snorted as Hunk slowly deleted whatever garbage he had just typed.

“I’m pretty sure it’s the only reason I get away with browsing buzzfeed so often.” Hunk joked, smiling down at Pidge.

“I’ll do you a deal.” She said as Hunk groaned.

“Not another one, please. You drive a hard bargain Holt.”

“I’ll help you with your coding, if you buy me donuts.” She opened her mouth to continue speaking but Hunk cut her off.

“But not the Krispy Kreme ones, they’re the worst donuts to ever grace this planet, it’s Dunkin donuts or nothing.” He recited tiredly.

“Am I really that predictable?” Pidge feigned a shocked look.

“Fine, fine. You’ve got yourself a deal. Now please tell me where these brackets are supposed to go?” Hunk asked desperately.

The rest of the class passed in a blur as Pidge tried to explain coding in the most basic of terms before completely giving up when Hunk managed to accidentally delete all of his work. The distant ringing of the bell signalled the end of class and after logging off their computers they both headed for the door.

“You’ll get there, just next time we’ll work on learning to save your work as you go along.” Pidge reassured Hunk, who had been mostly silent after deleting his code.

“Thanks Pidge, I’ll make sure to have donuts at the ready next week.” He managed to smile weakly before turning around and smashing straight into Haggard. Their teacher dropped the papers she had been carrying and Hunk’s bag slid off his shoulder, it’s contents spilling across the floor.

“Oh my gosh I’m so sorry Miss, here let me help you!” Hunk shouted mortified as he scrambled on the floor grabbing papers and shoving them into Haggard’s bewildered hands.

“That’s quite alright Hunk, just erm, watch where you’re going next time alright?” Haggard said, readjusting her glasses as she hurried out of the room.

“You’re so accident prone, I don’t know how you ever perform without burning the whole theatre down.” Pidge joked as Hunk started shoving his belongings back into his bag.

“Trust me. It’s a challenge.” He replied, smiling gratefully as Pidge bent down to help him. Her smile quickly turned to confusion as she spotted a small collection of very familiar looking notes. Grabbing hold of one she opened it up to read a predictably cheesy pick up line. Hunk, realising what Pidge was looking at quickly began to defend himself.

“I know this is going to sound weird but whatever you’re thinking, it’s probably not what’s actually happening.” He stood up, holding his hand out for the bunch of notes Pidge was now holding.

“Keith is my best friend Hunk. If you’re playing some kind of cruel joke on him, I will end you.” She warned him coldly, all traces of humour gone from her face.

“No, no, no it’s not like that at all!” Hunk protested, holding his hands up in front of himself.

“So what, are you into Keith?” Pidge asked suspiciously.

“God no! Not that he’s a bad looking guy and not that’s there’s anything wrong with liking a guy, just, erm no, it’s not me that’s into him!” Hunk replied quickly, trying not to accidentally offend Pidge or Keith.

“Who’s into him then?” Pidge sounded more curious than angry now, much to Hunk’s relief.

“Kind of a long story but my best friend Lance, he’s been into Keith since freshman year but refuses to talk to him. It was his idea to start posting these notes into his locker. The ones in my bag are the ones I vetoed. Which reminds me I really need to get rid of them.” The last of the suspicion and anger drained from Pidge’s face, replaced by a small smile.

“Lance as in Lance McClain? Loud, obnoxious, star of every school production, theatre geek Lance?” She asked, making Hunk laugh.

“The one and only. Seriously though, he’s a really genuinely sweet guy under that façade. And he cares a lot about Keith. Not that anyone would know given that he just stares at the back of his head in their English class and spends his days pining over him.” Hunk rolled his eyes at Lance’s incompetence.

“Yeah, he’s gonna need to do a bit more than write a few notes and gaze longingly if he wants Keith to notice him. The boy is oblivious to practically everyone and everything going on around him. That Daniel kid really hurt him though, so if Lance upsets Keith in any way I will hurt him. A lot.” Pidge told him, the sincerity clear in her voice. 

“I can vouch for Lance, he’s not like that.” Hunk promised Pidge, who nodded, seemingly satisfied.

“So, it seems both of our best friends are as useless as each other. I think it’s our moral duty to give them both a push in the right direction, what do you say?” She grinned at Hunk.

“Yes, I think they would both benefit from some behind the scenes assistance.” He agreed as they wandered out into the hallway.

“I’ll message you later Hunk. We’ve got some serious planning to do!” Pidge called out before she vanished into the swarm of students.

 _This is going to be great._ She smiled to herself as she practically skipped towards detention.


	4. A "Chance" Encounter

“Ugh. How. How is this so difficult?” Hunk moaned, his head in his hands. In the week that had passed since their last computing class, every plan he and Pidge had formulated had spectacularly failed. Now, as they sat in Pidge’s car during their free period trying to find another way to make their friends interact, Hunk was beginning to see it as an impossible task.

“Short of sticking a flashing sign on Keith’s locker announcing that Lance McClain is the guy he’s looking for, I have no idea how we’re going to get them together.” He sighed as he reached for one of the donuts he had purchased for Pidge. Swallowing the last of her donut, Pidge turned to Hunk, her face mirroring his despair.

“I knew they were incompetent, but this takes it to a whole other level.” She complained, glancing down at her notebook, crossing out yet another one of their failed plans.

“Maybe we need to go simpler?” Hunk suggested as he finished off his donut, trying to resist the urge to grab a third.

“You got any suggestions?” Pidge asked hopefully, looking up from her notebook to stare at Hunk.

“Erm… Lock them in a store cupboard?” He asked tiredly, giving into temptation and reaching for a third donut.

“Logistically Hunk, that is a terrible idea.” Pidge raised an eyebrow as Hunk pulled an exasperated face at her.

“In which case, I got nothing.” He mumbled through mouthfuls of donut.

“Okay. How about this. Keith refuses to buy the coffee they sell in the cafeteria, he says it tastes like sludge, I just think he’s being fussy but anyway, that’s beside the point. So, every day at lunch he heads to that coffee shop up the street, you know which one I mean right?” She paused, waiting until Hunk slowly nodded.

“The one run by that Allura woman? I’ve never been in, it looks cool and alternative and therefore incredibly intimidating.” Hunk replied sceptically, before gesturing at Pidge to continue.

“I know, I can’t stand it. It’s so hipster and pretentious but according to Keith they serve the best coffee in town.” Pidge rolled her eyes as she quoted Keith and Hunk chuckled slightly.

“So, if you can convince Lance to go and get coffee at lunch today, we can have them bump into each other. We can be there to steer them in the right direction, they’ll start talking and then boom. Their epic romance can begin, and we claim all the credit” Pidge declared enthusiastically before grabbing herself a congratulatory donut.

“Pidge you’re a genius.” Hunk replied happily, holding his hand out towards her.

“I know.” Pidge replied smugly, reaching up to meet Hunk’s high five, a renewed sense of hope surrounding the pair.

…

_ETA. Five minutes. Operation coffee shop is a go!_ Pidge smiled at her phone as the message from Hunk flashed up on the screen.

 _There’s no way this one can go wrong._ She thought to herself confidently, impressed at her own ingenuity.

“Pidge! Earth to Pidge! Are we gonna order or just stand here awkwardly all day.” Keith prodded her in the side, causing her to jump and scowl up at him.

“It’s not like we’re holding up a queue…” She mumbled gesturing to the empty space behind them.

“Don’t be rude.” He hissed as Allura, the coffee shop owner smiled over at them.

“Sorry Allura, Pidge is just incredibly indecisive today.” He said apologetically, returning the woman’s smile.

“Yeah, it’s so difficult choosing between all these over priced coffees…” She mumbled before Keith surreptitiously stood on her foot.

“That’s quite alright. Just the usual for you Keith?” Allura asked, oblivious to Pidge’s comment.

“You know it.” Keith joked before handing his money over the counter.

“I’m just gonna run to the bathroom Pidge, keep an eye on my bag please.” He told her before quickly shoving his backpack in her arms and wandering off. Sighing, Pidge dropped his bag to the floor before turning to order her drink.

“I’ll just take a black coffee thanks Allura.” Pidge told her, frowning up at the assortment of fancy flavours scrawled on the board in front of her. As she was handing over her own money she heard the chime of the bell as someone opened the door to the coffee shop. Slowly turning her head she smiled as the familiar figure of Hunk strode in, closely followed by Lance.

“I don’t understand what’s wrong with coffee from the cafeteria Hunk, you’ve never complained before.” Lance grumbled as they headed up to the counter.

“I fancied a change Lance, change is good you know!” Hunk laughed as he spotted Pidge

“Pidge! Fancy seeing you in here!” He exclaimed in mock surprise and Pidge had to bite her lip to keep a straight face.

“Hey Hunk, how’s the coding going?” She asked as Hunk wandered closer to her, Lance trailing behind him.

“Well, you’ll be pleased to know I’ve now mastered the art of pressing the save button.” He smiled ruefully as both Pidge and Lance burst out laughing.

“Oh, this is my friend Lance by the way, he’s my drama buddy.” He gestured to the boy behind him who scowled at Hunk before elbowing him to the side.

“What my dear friend was meant to say is this is my super talented, amazingly attractive, charming best friend. Lance McClain, at your service.” Lance grabbed Pidge’s hand, shaking it enthusiastically as she stared somewhat dumbfounded at him.

“You forgot to add the words humble and modest in there.” Hunk rolled his eyes, as Lance grinned goofily at him.

“Yes, yes. That too. I’m gonna grab a hot chocolate, do you want one?” He asked Hunk, not waiting for a reply before turning to Allura who was lingering near the cash register.

“Are you sure this is the same super awkward, unable to form a coherent sentence Lance that you’ve been describing?” Pidge asked Hunk under her breath.

“Just wait. You’ll see. Where is Keith anyway?” Hunk looked around the shop, his brow creasing slightly as he failed to spot the boy in question.

“Bathroom, he should be back any moment.” She replied as Allura called out his and Pidge’s order. Thanking the older woman, Pidge carefully walked back over to Hunk and Lance, who were engaged in an argument over whether hot chocolate was better with or without whipped cream.

“The cream just melts instantly and then your hot chocolate goes all gross and lukewarm within about two minutes!” Hunk argued as Lance feigned horror. 

“I will not hear such blasphemy! Hot chocolate without cream is like Bonnie without Clyde, Sandy without Danny…” Lance’s voice quickly trailed off as he recognised the familiar figure of Keith walking towards them.

 _Oh god. Okay. Don’t panic. You got this McClain. Play it cool. You are cool. You got this._ He told himself in spite of the fact he could already feel his face growing increasingly warm.

“Finally.” Pidge called over to Keith, who flipped her off before laughing and taking his coffee off her.

“Keith this is my friend Hunk, remember the guy I was telling you about who deleted all of his code?” Pidge introduced the two with a grin. Keith laughed as he saw Hunk cringe slightly.

“It was one time Pidge.” He groaned loudly.

“It’s okay. She’ll forget about it. Eventually.” Keith joked before a look of confusion graced his features.

“Erm, do you know the guy who’s currently hiding behind you?” He asked, taking a small sip from his coffee.

“Sadly yes. Yes I do.” Hunk replied, side stepping so Keith was able to see Lance.

“Hey, I know you don’t I?” Keith racked his brain trying to place the slightly red face that stood before him. Lance opened his mouth, desperately trying to think of a response that wasn’t totally lame.

“Oh you’re that guy from the hallway aren’t you…” Keith trailed off, trying to remember the name of the boy he’d accidentally attacked with a door the previous week.

“Ha. Yeah, the one and only hallway guy. Can’t keep me away from those hallways…” Lance stuttered awkwardly, cursing his brain for completely failing him. He also cursed Keith for looking so adorable in an incredibly well fitted red v neck and black jeans…

 _Why are you like this McClain_. He sighed to himself. 

“Do something Hunk.” Pidge hissed, no longer doubting Hunk’s description of Lance’s behaviour in Keith’s presence.

“This is my best friend Lance.” Hunk told Keith, throwing Lance a ‘what the fuck are you doing’ look.

“Of course, Lance from English class.” Keith offered the boy a small smile, slightly taken aback as Lance’s returning smile was akin to that of the Cheshire cat’s.

“Two hot chocolates, one with no cream?” Allura called in the distance, Lance was far too busy however staring at Keith to realise that was his order. Allura called his order again, slightly louder this time, trying to catch Lance’s attention.

“Lance.” Keith said slowly, grey eyes meeting blue. Lance’s heart skipped a beat and he felt a swirl of excitement rush through his body at hearing Keith say his name. Any attempts at maintaining his composure disappeared as he smiled dopily at the boy in front of him.

“Yes?” He asked dreamily, not hearing the nearby groans from Hunk and Pidge.

“I think your order is ready.” Keith said gesturing towards Allura who was stood somewhat impatiently holding Lance and Hunk’s drinks out towards them.

“Oh! Right! Yes! Coffee, the reason we’re all here. Well I say coffee, they’re actually hot chocolates. I don’t like coffee. Not that there’s anything wrong with coffee, I’m sure yours is delicious. That wasn’t me wanting to try yours by the way, that would be weird.” Lance replied quickly, completely aware he was making a complete idiot out of himself, but unable to stop talking.

“I better erm, go get them.” He added before walking as fast as he could towards Allura, ignoring the looks of horror written across Pidge and Hunk’s face.

“You ready to get going Pidge?” He heard Keith say, sounding bemused at the interaction that had just occurred. Cursing himself he accepted the drinks off Allura with an apologetic smile. Determined to maintain some of the scraps of dignity he had left, he turned confidently and began to stride towards the door, planning to casually say goodbye to Keith as he passed him.

“I guess I’ll see you in…” He began saying to Keith who was impatiently waiting for Pidge to say goodbye to Hunk. Before he could finish his sentence however, Lance’s bag slid off his shoulder, catching around his feet. A look of horror crossed his face as he felt himself begin to fall, unable to do anything to regain his balance. He instinctively threw his hands out in front of himself, completely forgetting he was holding two cups of hot chocolate. The cups flew from his grip as he hit the floor, groaning as a sharp pain shot up his arms. He heard a shocked gasp and looked up. Squinting slightly, his heart dropped as he registered the sight before him. Keith was staring down at himself, his expression somewhere between shocked and pissed off as Lance’s hot chocolates saturated his clothes. The once red v neck was now an unusual shade of sludge brown, his face was freckled with splashes of cream and chocolate, even his Converse had large splashes of chocolate covering them. When Lance had accepted the fact the ground was not going to swallow him he pulled himself to his feet. His horrified expression met Keith’s pissed off one and Lance coughed awkwardly. He tried desperately to think of something to say but at this point even his own brain had abandoned him. He grabbed his own, slightly hot chocolate stained bag off the floor and without saying anything sprinted out of the building.

“Hunk.” Pidge said quietly, unable to quite believe what they had just witnessed. She turned to her friend who was shaking his head in disbelief.

“We’re going to need a miracle.” 


	5. Mockingbirds and Daydreams

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a quick note to say thank you to anyone/everyone who's reading this, I hope it's as enjoyable to read as it is to write. xo

“Jesus Pidge! Are you trying to kill us?!” Keith yelled, one hand braced on the dashboard, the other on the door handle as Pidge turned her car sharply into a parking space.

“Oh relax, I haven’t crashed yet Keith.” She replied calmly, killing the engine and turning to her best friend.

“Yet being the operative word.” He shot back, reaching into his bag and pulling out his notepad. Pidge groaned, ignoring the scowl that was cast her way.

“Please Keith. Please no more poetry. I love you but it’s too early to try and understand how a raven represents your soul.” She complained as Keith flipped through the scribble filled pages, studiously ignoring her.

“It’s been like three weeks and we’re no closer to finding out who’s sending these bloody notes!” He exclaimed furiously. A stab of guilt shot through Pidge and she was grateful that Keith was still staring into his lap.

“Keith. I think we need to consider the possibility that this may not be a practical joke.” She said softly. Keith’s cheeks flushed slightly as he raised his head to meet Pidge’s.

“It has to be a joke Pidge. It has to be.” He muttered, his brow creasing at Pidge’s statement.

“Okay. Let’s for a second ignore your crippling self-doubt.” Pidge held up her hand to silence Keith as he was about to interrupt.

“One. It’s been three weeks, surely if this was a practical joke the notes would have escalated and resulted in your humiliation, my suspension and a hospital stay for the asshole that was behind it all.” She began as Keith raised a questioning eyebrow.

“Hey. I’ve got an older brother. I’ve learnt how to fight dirty over the years, they wouldn’t stand a chance.” She defended herself before continuing with her list.

“Secondly. Have the notes been anything but slightly questionable yet ultimately sweet attempts at flirting with you?” Keith slowly shook his head, smiling slightly as he recalled a few of his favourites.

“Finally, you may not believe it yourself Keith, but you are a rather handsome guy. It’s not an impossible concept that someone finds you attractive and wants to be with you.” She concluded, a satisfied look on her face as Keith struggled to find an argument against her points.

“Well then, why can’t they just talk to me like a normal person?” He mumbled sulkily, crossing his arms over his chest.

“Maybe they’re as scared as you are at the possibility of rejection? Contrary to popular opinion Keith I don’t have the answer to everything.” Pidge sighed as she glanced down at her phone. Reluctantly, the pair climbed out of Pidge’s slightly battered green car and slowly walked towards the main entrance.

“If you’re adamant about finding out who’s sending you these notes then maybe start talking to people a little more? Try and narrow down your options?” She suggested as Keith groaned and pulled a face at her.

“Don’t look at me like that. Human interaction can be good you know? Plus, this might just be your shot at future happiness!” She added enthusiastically.

“No pressure then…” Keith replied sarcastically, holding the door open for Pidge as they stepped into the familiar chaos of the high school hallways.

…

“Lance you look ridiculous.” Hunk said flatly, shaking his head at his best friend who was currently sporting a pair of oversized sunglasses and had pulled the hood of his jacket over his head.

“I’m going incognito today Hunk, I already told you!” Hunk could tell he was rolling his eyes under the sunglasses and he sighed deeply.

“You sit across from him in English Lance, he’s gonna notice you. Probably even more so if you look like this.” Hunk gestured to Lance exasperatedly.

“Ugh fine.” Lance pouted as he removed the sunglasses from his face.

“But I’m keeping the hood up, my hair’s a mess now.” He added as they walked the familiar route towards Keith’s locker. Lance unfolded the note, glancing over the message one last time.

_I’d say God bless you, but it looks like he already did. X._

Lance refolded the note and reached up towards Keith’s locker to post it through. A wave of doubt washed over him and he turned hesitantly towards Hunk.

“What am I doing Hunk?” He asked defeatedly.

“You’re posting one of your notes to Keith?” Hunk replied slightly confused.

“No you idiot I mean with all of this?” Lance gestured towards the locker frowning.

“What good are these notes if I can’t even walk past him without humiliating myself and ruining that really nice outfit he was wearing, which I still feel terrible about. Maybe I should offer to get it dry cleaned for him…” Lance cringed at the memory of the coffee shop incident and the pissed off look that had been in Keith’s eyes.

“Post the god damn note McClain and get it together.” Hunk replied sternly, shocking Lance with his abrupt tone.

“I haven’t listened to you pine over Keith for the best part of four years for you to give up now just cause you spilt some coffee on him. You’re going to go to that class and you are going to talk to him. Like a human being. Or so help me god I will drag you in there myself. And don’t think I won’t.” Hunk folded his arms resolutely and raised an eyebrow at Lance.

“You’re kinda scary when you want to be… Also, it was hot chocolate.” Lance muttered as he slipped the note through Keith’s locker. Hunk smiled sweetly and patted his friend on the shoulder.

“Good job I’m so laid back then isn’t it?” He joked as he spotted a now familiar mess of black hair in the distance.

“Shit.” He cursed under his breath as he quickly pulled Lance away from the locker and around a corner.

“Ow, Hunk. I’m going to go to English you don’t actually need to drag me…” Lance replied rubbing his arm.

“Well unless you wanted to explain to Keith why we lurking around his locker then you’ll thank me.” They glanced around the corner just in time to see Keith approaching his locker, Hunk rolling his eyes as he heard Lance sigh dopily.

Lance’s heart beat erratically as he saw Keith open his locker and the note flutter to the ground.

“Stop checking him out…” Hunk whispered as Keith bent down to retrieve the note.

“I wasn’t!” Lance half heartedly protested before falling silent as Keith gently unfolded the note. Lance saw Keith’s eyes quickly scan the note and he smiled as he refolded the note and placed it in his bag. The smile was still on his face as he closed his locker and strode away. Lance let out a breath he didn’t even realise he’d been holding and turned excitedly to Hunk.

“He smiled! Did you see that? He smiled!! I told you he’d love the notes Hunk I told you!”

“I’ve gotta go I’ll see you at lunch wish me luck!” He continued quickly, not waiting for his friend’s reply before charging down the corridor, almost falling over a trash can in his hurry to get to class.

“Good luck…” Hunk rolled his eyes at the receding figure of Lance.

“You’re gonna need it.”

…

_Just talk to him. Be normal. Apologise for ruining his clothes. Just have a normal conversation. You got this Lance. You so got this…_

Lance’s confidence was beginning to falter as he headed towards the classroom, after running through the school he was now early for class and his stomach fluttered nervously at the thought of spending the next hour with Keith. Stepping into the room his heart stopped as he saw Keith already sat at his desk, writing furiously in a battered notebook. Lance smiled softly as he took a moment to observe Keith. He loved the way his brow furrowed in concentration and how his hair seemed to defy the laws of gravity. Aware that he was awkwardly stood in the doorway he hurried towards his desk, a few seats across from Keith’s.

After throwing various pens and paper onto the desk Lance risked another glance at Keith. Lance’s hands itched with the urge to run them through Keith’s unruly hair, to tug on it as Keith moaned in pleasure…

“Do I have something on my face?” Keith’s question cut through Lance’s daydreams and he jumped slightly, knocking a pen off his desk in the process.

“No, no! I just erm wanted to apologise for throwing hot chocolate over you. I’ve felt awful about it all week, I can wash your sweater if you want? Well I don’t mean I’ll wash it that would be slightly weird, but I can get it dry cleaned for you or something…” Lance’s voice trailed off as he realised once more he was making a complete idiot of himself in front of Keith. To his surprise, Keith burst out laughing.

“It’s okay I won’t make you wash my clothes for me Lance.” Hearing Keith say his name sent a small shiver through Lance’s body and he had to fight to maintain his composure.

“Good. I am talented in many areas of life, sadly laundry is not one of them.” Lance replied, slightly shocked at the fact he was managing to maintain a conversation with Keith.

“Being able to stay upright is clearly another then.” Keith joked, smiling at the look of indignation that crossed Lance’s face.

“If I remember correctly, you were the one that opened the door into me!” Lance spluttered.

“Okay, I’ll give you that. However, the second time was all you. Unless you’re going to blame your bag?” Keith raised an eyebrow as Lance pouted slightly.

“Well my bag was awkwardly balanced…” Lance began defending himself but was interrupted by an influx of students rushing into the room, closely followed by their teacher, Shiro. After waiting for the remaining students to locate their seats, Shiro cleared his throat and crossed his arms across his broad frame. The class fell silent and Lance sighed dejectedly as he was forced to tear his eyes away from Keith’s face. Shiro frowned in Lance’s direction, causing Lance to cringe as he realised how loud his sigh had been.

“I’m sorry am I boring you already Lance?” Shiro asked flatly, his face stern. Lance felt himself blush as he mumbled an apology before fumbling around in his bag for his dog-eared copy of To Kill a Mockingbird.

“Okay class, we’re going to pick back up the discussion where we left it last week…” Shiro’s voice faded into the background as Lance idly flipped through the pages of his book, already counting down the minutes until he could find Hunk and dissect every aspect of this slightly more successful interaction with Keith. He smiled as he looked over at Keith who was alternating between filling the pages of his book with notes and hanging off every word that came out of Shiro’s mouth. As Keith bit his bottom lip thoughtfully, Lance abandoned all attempts of paying attention to the discussion surrounding the loss of childhood innocence throughout the novel and let his mind wander back to the dark-haired boy sat a few rows besides him…

_Lance’s lips travelled slowly down Keith’s neck, a thrill of excitement passing through him as Keith let out a low moan, his hands tightening around Lance’s waist._

_“I want you…” Keith pulled him closer and Lance gasped as he felt how much Keith wanted him._

_Their eyes met and Lance was fairly certain that his mirrored the desire burning in Keith’s._

_“Kiss me Lance.” Keith said, his voice low and intense._

_“Lance.”_

_“Lance.”_

“LANCE!” Shiro’s voice boomed across the room, causing Lance to jump and almost fall from his seat. The class erupted into laughter as Lance felt his face grow increasingly red.

“Care to share your thoughts with the class?” Shiro asked, raising a questioning eyebrow as Lance’s face turned an even brighter shade of red.

“Oh. N-no. Nothing as interesting as erm, Boo Radley and err mockingbirds.” Lance stuttered his eyes desperately scanning the random page his book had fallen open on. Shiro sighed.

“I suppose it would be naïve of me to assume you’ve actually finished reading the novel?”

 _I haven’t even started it…_ Lance thought to himself.

Not waiting for an answer Shiro turned to his desk, picking up a piece of paper before addressing the class.

“Okay. Projects for this semester.” He started, ignoring the collective groan that echoed around the room.

“In pairs, choose a theme present in To Kill a Mockingbird and I want you to produce a report on said theme, as well as a presentation that you will then give to the rest of the class at the end of the semester.” A few students who had begun exchanging glances and muttering to each other were silenced as Shiro continued speaking.

“Before you all get too excited, I have assigned your pairs for you.” Ignoring the complaints from students he started calling out names from the paper in front of him.

“Lance McClain.” Lance raised his head, praying to whoever might be listening that he didn’t end up with one of the weird kids from the back of the class, who he was pretty sure were going to be sectioned one day.

“You’re with Keith Kogane.” Lance felt his heart soar and had to resist the urge to jump out of his seat and hug his English teacher. Trying to maintain some composure he casually looked over to Keith, who offered him a small smile. Lance enthusiastically grinned back, barely believing his luck. The bell rang, signalling the end of class and Lance quickly shoved his belongings back into his bag, buzzing with excitement of spending the entire semester working with Keith. As he looked up from his bag he saw Keith standing over him, his hand holding a piece of paper that was awkwardly extended towards Lance.

“This is my number. Message me when you’re free and we can get started on this assignment.” He explained, the confusion on Lance’s face instantly clearing.

“Oh, thanks!” Lance reached out to take the paper, their hands touched briefly and Lance felt as if an electric current had just passed through him.

“See you soon then.” Keith appeared completely oblivious to the effect he was having on Lance as he turned and exited the classroom. Lance remained somewhat dazed in his seat for a few moments longer before managing to pull himself to his feet. Grabbing his phone out of his pocket he quickly typed out an excited message to Hunk before practically skipping out of the classroom.

_There is a God and he clearly wants me and Keith to be together!!!_


	6. Rehearsal

“So when should I text him? Do you think he wants me to message straight away? But then I’ll look desperate. What do I even say? What if I’m too formal? Or not formal enough? Why is life so complicated Hunk?!” Lance rambled to Hunk, growing increasingly more agitated.

“Okay, okay. Calm down. You aren’t diffusing a bomb you’re just texting a boy…” Hunk began speaking but was quickly cut off by Lance, who was looking at Hunk like he’d just kicked a puppy.

“This isn’t just a boy though Hunk! This Keith Kogane. Beautiful, smart, talented Keith Kogane. The boy who deserves the absolute world and the boy I have dreamt about spending my life with since borrowing his pencil sharpener in freshman year.” Lance declared passionately, his voice echoing around the empty auditorium. Hunk pressed his fingers to his temples, not for the first time thankful that Lance always insisted on being early to rehearsals.

“I know it’s not just any boy Lance, and if you’d have let me finish I was going to say that you’re overthinking this entirely. Don’t even try to deny it.” He raised a finger towards Lance who clearly disagreed with him.

“Text him after rehearsal. Keep it light and casual. And for God’s sake let me read it before you hit that send button.” He continued, standing up and brushing a few specks of dirt from the floor off his jeans. As their cast mates began trickling into the auditorium Lance reached up towards Hunk, who rolled his eyes before hauling Lance to his feet.

“Jesus Hunk. You almost dislocated my shoulder!” Lance complained, rubbing his arm as he stumbled slightly trying to regain his balance.

“Don’t be so lazy next time then.” Hunk smiled as Lance scowled.

“Conversation to be continued.” Lance mumbled as their friends headed towards them, laughing at the encounter that had just occurred between the pair.

“How long is it going to take for you to remember that Hunk is significantly stronger than you Lance? Also why do you insist on sitting on the floor? We’re literally surrounded by seats.” Their friend Shay joked, throwing her bag alongside Hunk and Lance’s

“It helps me get in touch with my artistic genius. Also, he’s not stronger, he just caught me off guard.” Lance pouted as Hunk raised his eyebrows at him.

“Oh really? Do you want to test that theory McClain?” He shot back, taking a couple of steps towards Lance who was beginning to regret the claim he had just made.

“No I wouldn’t want to embarrass you in front of everyone.” Lance replied attempting to sound nonchalant as Hunk chuckled.

“Of course. How thoughtful of you.” Hunk deadpanned, smiling slightly as he heard Shay dissolve into laughter behind them.

“Oi. You might be the Tracy Turnblad to my Link Larkin but don’t think I won’t push you off that stage!” Lance joked as their Drama teacher strode into the room, various pieces of sheet music and scripts balanced precariously in his arms.

“Lance how many times do I have to tell you to stop threatening to push your fellow cast mates off the stage?” He asked tiredly as he walked down the aisles towards the group.

“But Coran! It’s not my fault that…” Whatever Lance had been about to claim wasn’t his fault was forgotten as his arms that he had been swinging wildly in protest collided with the older man. The papers that had moments ago been in Coran’s arms were now cascading down from the air and fluttering around his feet. Hunk held his head in his hands, groaning as the rest of the room fought to suppress their laughter. 

“Oh my gosh I’m so sorry Coran! In my defence though, you know I tend to gesticulate a lot…” Lance attempted a laugh which quickly trailed off as he observed Coran’s unimpressed face, which was then comically obscured by the last few pieces of paper falling around him.

“Hole. Digging. Deeper.” Hunk whispered to Lance, who shot Hunk a “please help me” look. Hunk simply shrugged helplessly in a “what do you want me to do?” manner in reply.

“I’ll just erm, I’ll pick all of these up for you.” Lance offered, bending down and starting to gather the papers back into a neat pile.

“You’re lucky you’re talented McClain…” Coran sighed as he reached out to take the stack of papers back off Lance.

“We’re running through ‘I Can Hear the Bells’ today. Places people let’s go.” He declared taking a front row seat as the students around him scrambled from theirs and onto the stage.

…

As Shay was singing about falling in love and imagining their lives together, Lance couldn’t help but picture her as Keith…

_Round 1. He’ll ask me on a date..._

Lance’s stomach fluttered as he imagined taking Keith on a date. What would Keith wear? Would he attempt to style his hair before giving up and accepting that it would just do its own thing? Did Keith prefer sweet or salted popcorn? Was he the type of person that laughed at the ridiculousness of horror films, or did he spend the duration watching them from between his fingers? The questions filled Lance with such a burning desire to be with Keith, to get to know him. Really know him. He wanted to learn all of the seemingly inconsequential details, to find out whether he was a cat person or a dog person, if he thought pickles on a double cheeseburger were amazing or if they were the food of the devil himself.

Pulling Shay closer to him, green eyes transformed into grey, brown hair became unruly black as Lance gently laced his hands through it…

_Round 3’s when we kiss inside his car…_

God what Lance would give to kiss Keith. To feel Keith’s body writhing in pleasure under his own. Begging Lance for more. A desire Lance would be more than happy to satisfy…

Lance spent the rest of the song and indeed the rest of rehearsal in a lovestruck daze, only snapping out of it when Coran’s voice boomed across the auditorium.

“That’s it for today guys, great rehearsal! Lance you reminded me why, despite your character flaws I cast you as Link. You were amazing. Keep performing like that and there’ll be a college scholarship with your name written all over it.”

Lance smiled bashfully at the praise he’d received off Coran as he jumped down from the stage and impatiently waited for Hunk to finish talking to Shay.

“Finally!” He declared as Hunk said goodbye to Shay and walked over to where Lance was stood holding his bag.

“It’s impolite to make the star of the show wait you know.” Lance’s lofty smile was replaced by a wince as Hunk punched his arm.

“You aren’t famous yet you idiot. Besides, I know your tricks. You were thinking about Keith the entire time weren’t you?” Hunk replied as they wandered out of the auditorium and towards Lance’s car.

“Yes I was. And it was glorious.” Lance replied happily, throwing his bag onto the backseat, blushing slightly as he recalled imagining doing very similar to Keith.

Trying to focus his mind, he climbed into the front seat, turning on the engine and waiting for Hunk to fish his phone out of his back pocket and fasten his seatbelt.

“Can you move any slower Hunk?” He asked exasperatedly, drumming his fingers on the steering wheel as Hunk struggled to retrieve his phone.

“I swear these jeans have shrunk…” Hunk complained as he finally managed to tug his phone free.

“So what’s the plan?” He sighed, turning to Lance who had a determined expression on his face that always made Hunk slightly wary.

“We’re going for waffles. And we’re going to message Keith. Then he’s going to fall madly in love with me.” Lance replied, putting the car into drive and speeding out of the car park.


	7. Waffles and Video Games

“Why is this so difficult?!” Lance moaned, recklessly tossing his phone onto the cheap looking dining table, narrowly avoiding the small pool of maple syrup that had formed due to his over eagerness to inhale his waffles.

“Dude careful! You could’ve ruined some perfectly good maple syrup!” Hunk joked, attempting to lighten the dark mood that had settled around their table. Lance raised an eyebrow, blatantly unimpressed as he somewhat aggressively stabbed at the remaining waffles on his plate.

“Seriously Lance, you’re overthinking this entire situation. You just need to tell him it’s you and ask him when he’s free to work on this project.” Hunk grumbled as he scraped the last of his waffle around the plate, soaking up the remaining maple syrup before pushing it into his mouth.

“You make it sound so easy Hunk…” Lance sighed, reluctantly pulling his phone back towards him. Unlocking it, the blank message screen appeared, seemingly taunting him. He scowled as Hunk swallowed and stared thoughtfully at his best friend.

“Lance. It is easy. You’re trying to go to big. You don’t need to send this amazing, witty text that’ll instantly make Keith fall in love with you. I know it’s hard for you my overdramatic friend but just this once, think smaller.” A comfortable silence drifted around the pair as Hunk’s words resonated around Lance’s head, encouraging him to slowly and tentatively type out a message.

“Here.” Lance mumbled as he passed his phone over to Hunk moments later.

_“Hey Keith. It’s Lance from English (and the hallway and the coffee shop!) I have rehearsals Tuesdays and Thursdays but I’m free after school pretty much any other day to work on this project. Let me know when’s good for you! :)”_

“I feel like a proud momma bear right now!” Hunk joked as he passed the phone back to Lance.

“It’s perfect. Hit send, right now before you somehow ruin it.” He added, ducking as Lance half-heartedly tossed a balled-up napkin at his head. Lance took a deep breath and hit send, before immediately locking his phone and tossing it back on the table, eyeing it as if it were a live bomb.

“What if he doesn’t reply Hunk? What if he’s a really slow texter? What if it takes him like three to five working business days to get back to me? I don’t think I can cope!!” Lance couldn’t take his eyes off his phone, willing it to light up with a notification.

“andddd he’s back..” Hunk sighed, pulling himself to his feet and resting a hand on Lance’s shoulder.

“I’ll go order us some more waffles…” He mumbled, rolling his eyes as Lance shouted something about extra maple syrup.

_This is gonna be a long evening…_

……………

“Keith was that your phone?” Pidge asked, glancing quickly at the coffee table. Keith used the momentary distraction to blast Pidge’s character off a cliff, laughing triumphantly as her half of the screen faded to black.

“Kogane you cheating little shit!” Pidge yelled, half tempted to throw her playstation controller at Keith’s smug face.

“Cheating is such a nasty word Pidge; I prefer to see it as simply using my initiative.” Keith smirked as his best friend’s scowl deepened.

“You’re lucky these controllers are expensive otherwise this one would be wedged in your skull right now. Anyway, that was definitely your phone. Which is a surprise as the only person who messages you is sat right here.” She laughed at the look of indignation that crossed his face.

“You’re so funny Pidge…” He muttered as he hit pause on the game before leaning across to grab his phone. Curiosity surged through him, as loath as he was to admit it Pidge was right. Apart from her, no one ever messaged Keith, he wasn’t exactly a social butterfly.

The confusion deepened as he unlocked his phone, not recognising the number that popped up on the home screen. He tapped the notification, bringing up the message and quickly scanned its contents. His confusion gave way to a small smile.

 _Hallway Lance. Of course it is._ He chuckled before passing his phone over to Pidge, who he could tell was dying to see who’d messaged him.

“It’s from that guy who ruined my favourite jumper.” He told Pidge as she smirked down at his phone.

“Ah yes I remember it well. Poor Lance, I’ve never seen someone look so mortified in my life.” Pidge locked Keith’s phone before tossing it back over to him.

“I’ve never met anyone quite like him in my life…” Keith added, gently placing his phone back on the coffee table.

“So what’s this project about?” Pidge asked, feigning cluelessness, despite having been notified of Lance’s excitement by Hunk a couple hours earlier.

“It’s just that English one I was telling you about, Shiro partnered us up. I do have a hideous feeling Lance hasn’t even read the title page though…” Keith elaborated, picking his controller back up.

“You not gonna reply to him?” Pidge asked, trying to remain nonchalant whilst internally cursing Keith’s laid-back attitude towards communication. She knew for a fact the longer Keith was silent the more agitated Lance was going to get.

“Yeah I will do, but first we need a rematch.” Keith gestured towards Pidge’s controller.

“Unless you’re worried I’m going to kick your ass. Again.” He added, raising an eyebrow at her challengingly.

“Oh you’re so going to regret that Kogane.” Pidge shot back, grabbing her controller and turning her attention back to the television screen.

 _Sorry Hunk._ She thought as the game flashed back to life, knowing full well Lance would be driving him to insanity- she’d make sure Keith replied just as soon as she’d exacted her virtual revenge.


	8. Communicating is Fun!

_"Pidge."_

_"Please."_

_"I cannot physically eat anymore waffles and Lance won’t let me leave until he hears back from Keith."_

_"I’m going to end up with diabetes. Do you want that on your conscience?!"_

_"Do you?!"_

Pidge snorted as she surveyed the series of messages she’d received from Hunk.

_"Sorry man. He’s a nightmare at messaging. You should probably warn Lance about that, it’s nothing personal just who he is. He’s replying now, god speed your swift release from the Waffle House."_

She hit send and shoved her phone back in her pocket as Keith glanced up from his, thumb poised over the send button, a hesitant look etched on his face.

“What’s up with you? Still sore about losing to me, yet again?” She joked as Keith rolled his eyes.

“No it’s not that, besides we both know I went easy on you. It’s just… Will you just read this message before I send it please? It’s not often I speak to people that aren’t you, I don’t really know what to say.” He asked, placing his phone into Pidge’s outstretched hand.

“Are you telling me. Poetry buff and English student extraordinaire Keith Kogane, doesn’t know how to reply to a boy’s text?” Pidge cackled as Keith’s face began turning as red as the converse he was currently sporting. Silencing him with a wave of her hand she turned her attention to the message screen.

_“Hello Lance. Shall we say Wednesday at 6pm? Allura’s coffee shop is open late. Regards, K.”_

“Keith. I say this with love. Because I am your friend and I care about you. But what in the ever-loving fuck is that message?!” Pidge asked incredulously, shaking her head as she re-read it.

“I didn’t think it was that bad…” Keith mumbled, staring down at his hands.

“You’re not conducting some sort of interview! Nor are you sending him an email! Try and be a little less… formal, maybe throw a joke in there? Just please don’t send that.” Pidge jumped out of her chair and passed Keith his phone back.

“I’m going to make us coffee. By the time I’m back I expect a new draft of that message and dear god let me read it before you hit send.” She told him as she wandered into the kitchen, still shaking her head.

_“Hey Lance, does Wednesday at 6 work for you? Allura’s coffee shop is open late, so long as you promise not to throw hot chocolate over me this time… K”_

“I mean I wouldn’t sign it off with your initial but I know it’s your ‘thing’ so I’ll let it slide. Now just press send and you never know, you might actually start enjoying communicating with people that aren’t just me, or Allura and her overpriced coffee!” Pidge laughed as Keith tutted loudly, hitting send before turning his attention back to his best friend.

“I don’t understand why you have such an issue with Allura’s coffee. It’s worth the extra money to support a local business, better to fund her than a big chain like Starbucks!” He began lecturing her as she groaned loudly.

“Keith if you weren’t very much gay I’d swear you fancied that woman the amount you rave about her and her dairy free caramel drizzle.” Pidge mumbled as she took a sip of her very un-fancy homemade black coffee. Keith opened his mouth to reply but his sarcastic remark was forgotten as he felt his pocket violently vibrate. Fishing his phone out he saw not one but four messages from Lance McClain.

“Jesus that boy replies fast.” He said to Pidge, taking a sip of his latte before turning his attention to the messaging screen.

_Wednesday sounds great to me! I solemnly swear not to ruin your outfit with hot chocolate again. Looking forward to it :)_

_Although I still feel bad about your sweater. I can still get it dry cleaned if you want?_

_Also though, I just want it to be noted that my bag was pretty much solely responsible for the destruction of your outfit._

_I will make sure bag is not a threat to your clothing on Wednesday night._

Keith couldn’t contain the laughter that burst out of him as he scrolled through the series of messages from Lance. The boy was funny, he’d give him that. A bit odd, but funny, nonetheless.

“Do my ears deceive me or did one Keith Kogane just actually laugh, out loud?” Pidge raised her eyebrows, heart warming slightly as she surveyed her best friend smiling down at his phone, tapping out a reply. Her own phone buzzed and she had to bite her cheek to stop herself from laughing at Hunk’s words.

_“Thank you. My arteries are literally 90% maple syrup right now, they couldn’t survive much longer. Also, I apologise in advance for Lance’s spam- I confiscated his phone after he sent the fourth message.”_

_“Don’t be. I’ve never seen Keith actually laugh at a message before. I think Shiro may have just unwittingly accomplished what we could not with these two!”_

_“Lance is even happier than usual, I guess we can just sit back and watch this unfold now?”_

_“Let’s not get too ahead of ourselves. This is Keith and Lance we’re talking about. I highly doubt it will be plain sailing from here, but for now I say we enjoy this moment…”_

Pidge smiled as she turned her attention back to the smiling figure of Keith, furiously tapping away on his phone.

“See. Told you you’d enjoy this whole talking to other people business.” She laughed as Keith flipped her off, before returning to telling Lance exactly why it was his poor coordination skills and not the bag that had resulted in his spectacular fall.


	9. Running Late

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Slightly shorter chapter. Apologies in advance xo

Keith drummed his fingers on the arm of the deep leather chair he had sunk into twenty minutes prior, sighing deeply he cast a glance at the watch on his wrist.

This is why he hated group projects, the reliance on other people. He had dozens of ideas swimming around his head for this English assignment, none of which he was able develop without the approval or input of Lance.

Lance, who was currently twenty minutes late and counting.

 _Where the hell is that boy?_ Keith scowled to himself, taking a small sip of his coffee and staring intently out of the window, willing Lance to appear so they could get on with the report.

………………..

“Hunk! Please. Drive. Quicker.” Lance practically yelled as Hunk tightened his grip on the steering wheel. The Chevy let out an uneasy whine as he gingerly pressed his foot against the accelerator. Lance stared agonisingly at the dashboard, watching the needle on the speedometer slowly increase.

“Hunk man you are killing me here.” Lance muttered through gritted teeth as Hunk slowed the truck for the approaching red light.

“Lance!” Hunk exploded, slamming his hands down onto the steering wheel. Lance would’ve fallen out of his seat were it not for the seatbelt securing him in place. Hunk’s usually calm demeanour had vanished, replaced with a look of fury that Lance had only borne witness to a couple of times in his life.

“The reason why we are in this situation right now is completely down to your poor time management skills and a complete inability to multi-task! I will not break the law, jeopardise my truck or risk our lives just to get you to that coffee shop five minutes quicker! Understand?” Hunk’s voice boomed around the car as he fixed Lance with an icy glare.

“Understood…” Lance replied meekly, shifting uncomfortably in his seat and looking anywhere other than at his best friend.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to lose my shit quite so dramatically…” Hunk sighed, running one hand through his hair before placing it back on the steering wheel as the light changed to green.

“It’s okay. I know I can be quite, high maintenance at times.” Lance laughed softly as Hunk snorted.

“Understatement much?” Hunk joked, swinging the truck into the parking lot of Allura’s coffee shop, trying to get as close to the doors without smashing through them. He turned to face Lance who was nervously playing with his carefully styled hair.

“Stop messing with it. That’s most of the reason why you’re now half an hour late.” He gently chastised his best friend, who’s hand immediately dropped from his head.

“You look great Lance. Now you better get moving I have a feeling out of the pair of you Keith is definitely the punctual one.” He added quickly, reassuringly patting Lance on the shoulder.

“Thanks Hunk, pick me up at nine?” Lance asked, his lanky frame struggling to gracefully exit Hunk’s Chevy.

“Will do. Make good choices!” Hunk shouted, laughing as the receding figure dramatically flipped him off before vanishing into the warm light of Allura’s.


	10. To Kill A Vanilla Latte

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for late update. Life and all that got in the way. Enjoy (hopefully) xo

“You’re late.” Keith commented as a slightly red-faced Lance threw himself into the seat opposite him.

“So sorry. Hunk’s truck is not the most reliable pieces of machinery.” Lance lied, not wanting to admit to Keith that he’d spent twenty minutes trying to style his hair to impress him. His heart skipped a beat as he surveyed Keith. He wasn’t wearing the V neck that Lance had previously destroyed, but the red and black check shirt worked wonders for him. The short sleeves accentuated Keith’s surprisingly muscular arms and Lance had to stop himself from drooling as Keith leaned towards him.

“I was going to order you a drink but I wasn’t sure you were actually going to show up.” He joked, gesturing towards his own practically empty coffee mug.

“Oh! Thank you, I’ll go grab one now. You after a refill?” Lance asked, internally congratulating himself on not making a complete idiot out of himself so far.

“Please. Vanilla latte if you wouldn’t mind.” Keith replied gratefully, rummaging in his pockets for some loose change.

“No don’t worry. It’s on me, as a sorry for being late.” Lance said smoothly, smiling widely at Keith before heading over to the counter.

 _Hell to the Yes McClain. Smooth as fuck._ He thought to himself smugly as he strode towards the counter.

“Erm, Lance?” He heard Keith’s voice and quickly turned his head. He felt his face flush as he saw Keith gently presenting Lance’s wallet towards him, laughing softly.

“Might need this.” Keith added as Lance attempted to nonchalantly walk back to their table.

_Okay. Maybe don’t get too ahead of yourself…_

…….

The evening had passed in a pleasant blur. Their copies of To Kill a Mockingbird lay forgotten next to the empty mugs and brownie crumbs that Lance had insisted upon ordering. They were no closer to figuring out which theme they were basing their reports on, but Keith had learnt Lance’s favourite Disney film was The Fox and the Hound, his current musical obsession was the Dear Evan Hansen soundtrack and he was obsessed with anything Crash Bandicoot related.

“I just think he’s so cool! Like any animal that can pull off wearing nothing but shorts and red sneakers deserves all the praise in the world!” He declared enthusiastically, almost causing Keith to snort the remnants of his latte across the table.

“Careful, this sweater is dry clean only.” Lance joked, as Keith’s eyebrows almost disappeared into his mass of black hair.

“You know I think that it’d just look so much better if it was slightly more, sludge coloured.” Keith retorted and for the first time that night he properly surveyed the boy sat in front of him. His hair had that effortlessly tousled look, like he’d just rolled straight out of bed, of which Keith was incredibly envious. The light blue shade of his sweater perfectly complimented Lance’s almost caramel coloured skin, and his hazel eyes were so warm and inviting… and staring straight into his.

_Shit._

“Oh my god have I got chocolate on my face or something?” Lance asked, scrabbling for a napkin and hastily wiping his mouth, a mortified look etched onto his face.

“No don’t worry you’re all good. Although we really should at least decide on our theme tonight given that it’s almost nine and we’ve accomplished nothing.” He added quickly, trying to disguise the fact he had been staring into Lance’s eyes.

“Right! Yes! The English project, the whole reason we’re here!” Lance rambled as he picked up his own copy of the book which looked decidedly less well read than Keith’s tattered, note filled copy.

“Okay. Real talk here. How much of the book have you actually read?” Keith asked Lance, half not wanting to hear the answer.

“Does the title page count?” Lance attempted to joke before awkwardly looking down, suddenly preoccupied by his napkin. He heard Keith sigh deeply and tentatively raised his head, grey eyes meeting hazel.

“Are you free before English on Friday?” Keith asked him as Lance racked his brains.

“I have a free period actually yeah!” He replied, smiling as Keith nodded thoughtfully.

“Small world. As do I. Read what you can between now and then. I have a few ideas we could use but as this isn’t a solo project your input would be greatly appreciated. You ready to get going? I think Allura is dying to close up.” He asked Lance, who glanced over at the woman who was shifting her gaze from the couple to the large clock mounted on the wall behind them.

9:15pm

“Shit yes I’m good, Hunk will be waiting outside, surprised he hasn’t stormed the building yet looking for me! I promise I’ll read this before Friday.” He told Keith as they both somewhat reluctantly pulled themselves out of their chairs.

“Thanks Allura!” Keith shouted to the older woman as he held the door open for Lance. It took everything in Lance to not melt at Keith’s chivalrous gesture.

“Why thank you kind sir.” The words tumbled out of his mouth before he could stop them and he felt himself die a little inside.

“You’re an idiot McClain.” Keith chuckled, letting the door swing shut behind them and pulling his jacket closer around his body as the October chill hit them.

 _God what I’d give to be that jacket…_ Lance thought wistfully before the loud honking of a horn pulled him out of his daydream.

“Let me guess. That’s Hunk?” Keith asked as a yellow Chevy revved its engine impatiently.

“That would be Hunk yes.” Lance cringed, willing Hunk not to do anything embarrassing.

“I shan’t keep you any longer then. I’ll see you Friday?” Keith smiled and waved before heading across the parking lot. Lance watched him until he vanished around the corner and out of view, smiling dopily. He had spent an evening with Keith Kogane. An evening where he hadn’t completely embarrassed himself. He was half tempted to pinch himself to make sure this wasn’t a dream. Hunk’s car horn once more ripped through the quiet night and Lance almost jumped out of his own skin.

_Okay definitely not dreaming._

“Are you gonna get in or stand there like an extra from a bad teen movie all night?” Hunk’s voice carried through the still night air and Lance swore before turning and running towards the car. Slamming the door shut Lance scowled at his best friend.

“Would it kill you to use your inside voice every once in a while?” He mumbled as Hunk laughed before shifting gears.

“But where would the fun in that be? Go on then, tell me everything I can tell you’re dying to.”


	11. Canteen Frustrations

The bustling canteen was driving Pidge insane. Her head was pounding, and her eyes were burning with exhaustion. Taking a sip from her coffee she blearily glanced towards the entrance, willing Keith to hurry up, she had a free period after lunch and she was fully intending to crawl into the backseat of her car and nap before their final class of the day.

 _Finally._ She grumbled to herself as she spotted Keith excitedly hurry towards her, almost barrelling through a group of girls, all of whom turned and glared firstly at Keith and then Pidge as he collapsed into the seat opposite hers.

“Christ who’s spat in your coffee?” He asked her, observing the scowl etched across Pidge’s face.

“No one, but those girls might be about to dump whatever monstrosity you’re drinking over your head.” She retorted, smirking slightly as Keith threw a brief apologetic glance back at the girls as they scoffed and walked away.

“I’ll never understand girls… And hey this is no monstrosity it’s an extra shot iced vanilla latte thank you very much!” He added, taking a long sip before smiling contentedly at his best friend.

“Seriously though, you look shattered, late night?” He asked, concern lacing his voice.

“Yeah, I was up late working on my computing assignment. It’s gonna blow Haggard away but it’s also slowly destroying my soul.” She replied tiredly, clinging to her drink as though it was a lifeline.

“I have no doubts about that. I do however have doubts you’re gonna make it through the rest of the day…” He replied before Pidge dismissed his concerns with a wave of her hand.

“I’ll be fine. I’m napping in the car during my free period, which you’re gonna end up eating into if you don’t tell me whatever news you’ve been dying to share since you’ve walked in here.” She stared pointedly at Keith, who smiled bashfully as he pulled a now familiar looking piece of paper out of his pocket. Pidge raised an eyebrow but was unable to stop herself from smiling at the excited look in her best friend’s eyes.

“So, what does your secret admirer have to say today?” She joked, as Keith’s cheeks slowly began to flush. 

“May I remind you we are very much in a public place and you are notoriously bad at maintaining an inside voice.” He whispered through gritted teeth before slowly unfolding the note and sliding it over to Pidge.

_Are you a magician? Because when I look at you, everyone else disappears! X_

“Well, he certainly has a knack for cheesy one liners I’ll give him that.” She laughed before pushing the note back towards Keith, who quickly glanced down at the note before pocketing it.

“He’s also very good at being very vague.” He added, frustration seeping into his voice.

“I mean this could literally be anyone in this school with half a brain cell and the ability to write Pidge!” He frowned, running his hands through his hair.

“To be fair Keith, that does narrow down your search.” Pidge joked in an attempt to lighten Keith’s spirits.

“Also have you actually spoken to anyone at all like I suggested?” She added, trying to subtly steer her friend onto the topic of Lance McClain.

“Talking to people is hard Pidge! Besides, I can’t just start asking every guy in school if they’re sending me love notes, I’m enough of a social outcast as it is.” He said defensively and Pidge had to resist the urge to smash her head against the table.

“I’m not telling you to start outright asking people if it’s them sending you notes.” Pidge said slowly, trying not to scream at Keith that Lance was his mysterious note sender. Now that the couple had been paired up on their English assignment, both Hunk and Pidge had agreed to let the situation play out naturally, an agreement that Pidge was currently regretting. 

“I know, I know. I mean I guess I’ve talked to that Lance guy, although that’s more because we have to for this English project.” Keith smiled slightly at the memory of their meet up the previous night, and the bizarre yet oddly charming Lance McClain.

“Anyway, that’s besides the point.” He declared before Pidge could respond, pushing his chair away from the table as the distant ringing of the bell echoed around the room.

“I highly doubt that Lance would one, actually be into me and two, even if he was, he’s far too dramatic to simply post silly love notes into my locker. It isn’t him.” Keith stated confidently, trying his best to ignore the small pang of sadness that cut through him as he finished speaking.

“Go get some sleep.” He gently added as he grabbed his coffee off the table and strode purposefully out of the canteen.

Pidge groaned loudly as she buried her head in her hands.

 _Keith Kogane. You have no idea how wrong you are._


	12. Metaphors and Messages

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Two uploads one night yo! Enjoy xo

Replaying the conversation with Pidge in his head Keith sighed deeply as he pulled his notebook out of his bag. His history class wasn’t due to start for another ten minutes and Keith was taking full advantage of having the room to himself. Idly flicking through the pages, he finally reached the back of the notebook, where he had tentatively scribbled down a small list of names. Specifically, the names of classmates that could potentially be his mysterious note sender. Looking at the list sent a sharp jolt of embarrassment through his body. He highly doubted any of them were behind the notes but if he hadn’t written at least one name down he was worried his brain was going to explode.

Scanning down the list he tried desperately to replay any form of conversation he’d had with any of them in the past couple of weeks. Beyond asking about homework and the occasional joke made at a teacher’s expense, Keith was drawing a blank. Nothing stood out to him. The small talk was just that. Small talk.

_Lance McClain._

The name floated into his thoughts before he could stop it. Keith allowed himself a brief smile as he recounted the hours spent talking about what felt like nothing and everything all at once.

_Stop it Keith. He’s not the one sending you notes. He’s just being friendly because of the English assignment. Don’t get carried away, or have you forgotten what happened last time?_

Lance was confident and dramatic, and not Keith imagined, the type to make small gestures.

 _But what if it could be him?_ The small, hopeful part of his brain whispered to him, before his train of thought was disrupted as the bell rang and students slowly began to trickle into the classroom. Moving to shove his notebook back in his bag, Keith paused briefly, pen hovering over the paper. He sighed before quickly scrawling down two words.

_Lance McClain?_

….

Lance’s eyes burned as he re-read the same paragraph for what felt like the fiftieth time, desperately trying to work out what was actually happening in the book. It’s not that he didn’t enjoy reading, it was an integral part of learning lines for his shows, but academic reading killed him. He didn’t have the time nor the inclination to decipher deep rooted metaphors in stories, and had he been paired with literally anyone else he’d have simply read the spark notes page for To Kill A Mockingbird and called it a day. However, he had not been paired with literally anyone else and Lance knew how much Keith loved the book and how eager he was to get a good grade on this assignment. Lance couldn’t bear the thought of letting Keith down and now, instead of heading over to Hunk’s to eat his mom’s delicious baked goods he was sprawled in his desk chair, trying to follow the adventures of Jem and Scout Finch. His phone beeped and he practically launched himself across the desk to grab it, desperate for any distraction, and partly hoping it would be a message from Keith. Upon seeing Hunk’s name flash up on the screen he had to work to swallow back the disappointment that rose in his chest.

_“I have cinnamon buns, straight out the oven. Sure I can’t tempt you?...”_

Lance groaned loudly, Hunk’s mom’s cinnamon buns were legendary.

 _“Hunk! Why you doing this to me man?? You know I gotta read at least half of this book by tomorrow afternoon!!!”_ He quickly typed out his reply and hit send. He managed to read a further two lines before his phone buzzed and Lance’s attention was once more pulled to his message screen.

_“Sorry dude, try not to stay up too late though, we’ve got a long ass rehearsal tomorrow night. PS. I’ll bring the leftovers to school. Happy reading!”_

Lance smiled and gently placed his phone back on the desk. Energised by the thought of receiving baked goods, he stretched his arms out before picking the book back up, adamant he was going to at least finish this chapter before calling it a night.

When his phone buzzed again, Lance had to resist the urge to scream.

“What now Hunk?!” He shouted at the phone, before quickly realising the name on the screen was not Hunk’s. Lance’s heart rate tripled as he saw Keith’s name and he almost dropped his phone in his eagerness to see whatever Keith had sent him.

_“Hey Lance, sorry it’s late. Just wanted to check you’re still good to meet up before English tomorrow? K.”_

Lance knew he should try and play it at least somewhat cool and wait more than thirty seconds to reply but he had accepted a long time ago he had absolutely no chill when it came to Keith Kogane, and within seconds his fingers were flying across the keyboard.

_Hey! Yeah I’m still down to meet, I’m actually reading the book as we speak! Well I say speak, I mean type… Who knew that there are like no mockingbirds in this?! Actually you probably given the number of times you’ve read the thing haha._

Pressing send Lance read back over what he’d actually typed and felt himself cringe. He could already picture the look on Hunk’s face when he inevitably showed him the message tomorrow.

 _God Lance, you actually suck at basic level communication with a cute boy._ He chastised himself, cringing once more as his phone notified him of Keith’s reply.

_I haven’t read it THAT many times, maybe just a dozen haha. But yes, I look forward to discussing the metaphorical mockingbirds with you tomorrow… 1pm in Shiro’s classroom, it’s always empty then? K._

Lance let out a breath he hadn’t realised he’d been holding in. Could it be? Was the Keith Kogane, love of his life, attempting to flirt with him???

_No. Calm down Lance. Get Hunk’s opinion tomorrow. Don’t overreact._

Resisting the urge to declare his love to Keith there and then Lance forced himself to type out a simple message.

_“Awesome, see you then! :)”_

Lance sunk back into his chair, picking up the book for the third time he was unable to keep the smile off his face as he once more tried to lose himself in the story. 


	13. Coffee Buzz

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, it's been a while. A lot of crazy happened and this took a back seat. But hey, what better time to get back into writing than a global pandemic? I'm rambling now, so if anyone's still interested, the much overdue chapter 13. (I also intended to update this far more regularly now I promise.) xo

“Hunk, where’s my hair gel?!” Lance shouted across the dressing room, before continuing to rummage through his self proclaimed “crap box”.

“Have you tried the crap box?” Hunk’s distracted reply came and Lance had to bite his lip to stop himself from offering a snappy retort. He knew this wasn’t Hunk’s fault, but his significant lack of sleep and the prospect of explaining to Keith his continued lack of understanding of To Kill a Mockingbird, meant that anything and everything was irritating him today.

“Yes. Three times.” He answered back through gritted teeth, as he tossed various old props out of the box, almost growling in frustration. Sensing his friend’s growing distress, Hunk quietly excused himself from his conversation with Shay and made his way over to Lance. Crouching down he reached over Lance’s shoulder to retrieve the jar of hair gel that was clearly visible in the corner of the box.

"Wow, I knew you were blind McClain but this is next level.” He joked as the pair stood upright.

“Forgot to put my contacts in this morning.” Lance mumbled, squinting slightly at the jar Hunk was holding out towards him.

“Are you sure this is my hair gel?” He added quizzically, frowning at the offending jar. Hunk sighed deeply before replying.

“Take it from someone who can actually see right now, yes, yes it is. Where are your glasses? Please don’t tell me you just hoped for the best whilst driving to school this morning!” Hunk asked Lance sternly, who in response collapsed into his nearby seat, and after briefly rooting through his bag, pulled out a pair of glasses.

“And why, pray tell dear friend, were they in your bag and not on your face?” Hunk asked exasperatedly. Lance scowled as he roughly pushed them onto his face, blinking as the world refocused around him.

“You know I hate wearing these monstrosities , Hunk! But I woke up super late and I still haven’t finished that bloody book, nor do I have any ideas for the English project, I’ve got less than half hour before I meet up with Keith and he’s going to think I’m a bloody incompetent idiot! Not only that but I look like a hot mess and if I don’t sort my hair out for rehearsals now I’m going to get another lecture off Corran about the importance of time keeping and preparedness when all I really, truly want to do, is go to bed!” Lance’s rant was interrupted only by his need to breathe, and Hunk knew from experience if he didn’t shut Lance down, he would continue to spiral for hours. Sliding his own bag off his shoulder, Hunk pulled out something slightly squashed and wrapped in tissue with his remaining spare hand.

“Here, eat this, it’ll make you feel better.” He instructed Lance, hurriedly pressing the leftover cinnamon bun into Lance’s outstretched hand.

“Mmmm, my god these are so good Hunk.” Lance mumbled, spraying himself with crumbs in the process.

“Got anymore?” He added hopefully as he surreptitiously attempted to brush the pile of crumbs he’d accumulated off his sweater.

“You can have another before rehearsals, god knows you’ll need the sugar fix to keep you going. I warned you about staying up too late!” Hunk rolled his eyes before spinning Lance round in his chair to face the mirror.

“Now, here’s the plan.” Hunk started, silencing Lance before he could speak again.

“You, are gonna fix your hair so it looks less just rolled out of bed and more Link Larkin expressing his feelings through song. I will go get you a coffee, don’t pull that face I know you hate it but lets face it, you need one. Then, you can go have your meeting with Keith, try not to embarrass yourself too much, and be back here by three for rehearsals.” With that, Hunk placed the hair gel next to Lance before turning and marching out of the room.

_Today is gonna be a long day…_ He sighed to himself as he headed towards the canteen.

……...

_Lance McClain?_ Despite his best efforts, Keith’s eyes and attention continued to be drawn from his English notes and back to the name he’d almost unwillingly scribbled into his notebook. His mind wandered back to the evening they’d spent in Allura’s shop, smiling softly at the memories of how animated Lance was during their discussions. The boy was funnier than Keith had originally given him credit for, and yes Keith had definitely noticed how good Lance looked in that sweater….

The door crashed open and Keith nearly crashed to the floor in his hurry to slam his notebook closed.

“Hah! Made it! Right on time.” Lance panted as the door swung shut behind him. Making his way over to where Keith was sat he became increasingly aware that this was the first time the two of them were completely alone… Feeling the heat begin to rise in his cheeks he almost tripped over his own feet as he rushed to sit down, desperately trying to dispel the somewhat inappropriate thoughts creeping into his mind.

“Well, technically its two minutes past one, so if we were being pedantic I am kind of late but lets just ignore that, anyway how are you?” Lance was painfully aware that he was now full on rambling so took a long gulp of the coffee Hunk had picked up for him, wincing slightly at the bitter taste. He could feel the blush on his cheeks darkening as Keith simply stared at him as if he’d grown two heads.

“You look… Different.” Keith said finally, raising his eyebrows as he appraised Lance’s slicked back hair and large framed glasses.

“Oh God, is it that bad? I didn’t have time to put my contacts in and the hair is for rehearsals I promise I don’t always use this much product!” Lance replied, self consciously adjusted the glasses resting on the bridge of his nose.

 _Oh well done Kogane you idiot._ Keith mentally chastised himself.

“No, no! Its not a bad different, it’s good. A good different.” He threw Lance a small smile, hoping that it was enough to reassure him.

“Oh, thank you.” Lance sounded almost bashful before drifting into an uncharacteristic silence as he attempted to process the compliment Keith had just paid him without spontaneously combusting.

“So, you have brought your copy of the book right?” Keith asked, a hint of concern in his voice.

“Oh right yes, sorry! That’s the whole reason we’re here isn’t it. Sorry, I’m not really with it today and Hunk told me this coffee would help but it just tastes like bitter water, although I do feel much more awake than I did half an hour ago so that’s something I suppose and now I’m rambling again aren’t I…” Lance inwardly cursed himself, the caffeine might be keeping him awake but it was turning him into more of a socially inept individual than usual.

“Just a bit, also the reason your coffee tastes like bean water is because it’s the stuff from the cafeteria.” Keith joked, pulling a slight face at the offending coffee cup.

“Next time we end up in Allura’s together I’ll introduce you to proper coffee.” He added almost unthinkingly, there was a brief moment of pause whilst the two reflected on Keith’s words, before Lance replied.

“That sounds nice.”

Now it was Keith’s turn to blush slightly and he was grateful that Lance was preoccupied with searching through his school bag.

 _Jesus Kogane, where did that come from? Don’t start getting all attached, you’re working on a project together. Nothing else._ Even if Lance did look adorably dorky in those glasses, and the fact that Keith felt a sudden urge to run his fingers through Lance’s perfectly styled hair…

“So basically, I have no idea what is going on.” Keith zoned back in just in time to catch the end of what he presumed had been another long rant. Taken aback by his own thoughts Keith was tempted to kick himself.

“Oh God, you’re not mad are you Keith?” Lance asked worriedly, taking in the sudden sternness that had hardened his features.

“What? No of course I’m not Lance, just remind me what it was you actually said? I think the coffee buzz has seriously sped up your thought processes.” Keith hoped he’d covered for his momentary lapse in rational thinking.

“To Kill a Mockingbird. I just don’t get it like you do, I managed to read half of it last night but I may as well have not bothered. I’m sorry, I don’t want to let you down with this project I just can’t get my head around it.” Lance told Keith, not quite being able to meet the other boy’s eyes he instead stared down at his copy of the novel.

Keith felt a sudden surge of affection run through his body at the sight, and the admission that Lance was making a genuine effort for Keith. No one apart from Pidge had ever been as thoughtful, and Keith once again found himself subconsciously wishing that perhaps, just perhaps, Lance was his mystery note sender.


	14. Free Time and Donuts

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay so this is a bit of a different chapter- I wanted to give some more insight into Keith's past but I didn't feel it would be very in character with Keith for him to be the one sharing it. So I know this chapter lacks Keith and Lance but it was a necessary one, and I'll make up for it in due course, I promise! xo

Hunk let out a contented sigh, as he closed his eyes he felt the remaining tension drift from his body. The slightly crackly sounds of the radio station filled his truck and he found himself instinctively humming along, it was one of Lance’s current favourites. He felt a small pang of guilt, he had told Lance he needed to do extra coding work during his free period.

 _Well, it’s not a full lie, I technically DO need to do some extra coding…_ Hunk attempted to justify bailing on his best friend to himself. 

The passenger door slammed shut, the sound ricocheting throughout the truck and Hunk’s eyes flew open, complete with a rather undignified screech. 

“Wow Hunk, I think we just discovered a brand new frequency.” Pidge laughed as she leaned forward to adjust the radio station. 

“Pidge! Jesus Christ a little warning would have been nice!” Hunk shouted back, one had clutched dramatically over his chest. 

“Yeah, but where’s the fun in that? Also you didn’t exactly look like you were planning on answering any calls.” She added, settling on a classic rock station before falling back into her seat. 

“I think you’ve just knocked about ten years off my life, also it’s gonna take me ages to retune the radio now.” He grumbled, resigning himself to the fact his alone time was officially over, not five minutes after it had begun. 

“Sorry man, I saw you across the parking lot and I just really needed to talk to someone that isn’t Keith.” Hunk raised his eyebrow quizzically, nodding at Pidge to continue. 

“I mean, I love the boy, I really do. But he’s driving me insane at the minute, no thanks to Lance’s love notes…” She added, gently removing her glasses in order to drag her hand over her tired eyes. 

“Say no more. I told Lance I was doing extra coding with Haggard.” Hunk added sympathetically. 

“This doesn’t make us bad friends though right?” He asked a few moments later, concern lacing his voice. 

“No definitely not. It just makes us extremely tired best friends who need a brief respite from our respective situations.” Pidge replied, earning a small chuckle from Hunk. 

“I don’t know about you but I for one need to get away from here. Dunkin Donuts?” Hunk asked, a sudden need to escape filling him. 

“Is that even a question? Come on, let’s get out of here before we get spotted.” Pidge smiled widely as Hunk turned up the radio and started the truck. 

“You know Pidge, you might be right about Dunkin being the superior donuts.” Hunk mumbled through a mouthful of his second donut. 

“Hunk, there is very little in this world I am wrong about.” Pidge declared confidently, wiping the sugary remnants from around her face with the back of her hand. 

“Apart from the disastrous coffee fiasco last month!” Hunk shot back, laughing at the memory of Lance’s spectacular hot chocolate mishap. 

“Hey, the plan was solid. It was Lance’s lack of balance and Keith’s emotional constipation that was flawed.” Pidge joined Hunk in laughing at the shared memories. 

“Emotional constipation? Is that a genuine scientific term or just a Pidge term?” Hunk asked, trying to keep the tone light, but also wanting to probe further. 

“It’s a perfectly accurate summation of my best friend term.” Pidge replied, sighing as she reached for another donut. 

“You wanna talk about it?” Hunk asked quietly. 

“No. Yes. Maybe. Ugh, sorry it’s just difficult to find the words, I don’t want to sound as though I’m just shit talking Keith.” Pidge explained in between bites of donut. 

“Hey, my truck is a sacred space, whatever is said in here stays in here.” Hunk promised whilst attempting to throw up a convoluted hand gesture. 

“Was that supposed to be that signal from the Hunger Games?” Pidge snorted as Hunk became increasingly confused. 

“Yes. I think. I have terrible hand eye coordination. Anyway, the point stands, and I understand where you’re coming from. Lance has been my best friend since he accidentally knocked me out during the My Fair Lady auditions in freshman year. It’s okay, you can laugh.” Hunk added as Pidge’s laughter echoed around the truck. 

“Anyway, I love the guy to pieces, I honestly couldn’t wish for a better best friend but that doesn’t mean I don’t want to kill him sometimes. Hence why we’re here, hiding out in a dunkin donuts parking lot, avoiding our respective best friends.” He smiled encouragingly at Pidge who was nodding along thoughtfully. 

“He’s too hard on himself. All of the goddamn time, and it’s so frustrating to watch him constantly beat himself up. He doesn’t think he’ll ever be good enough for somebody to love him and it honestly breaks my heart a little bit every time he says it Hunk. I think that’s partly why I want this thing with Lance to work out, I need him to see that he’s worthy of love. And it’s so obvious to all of us that Lance adores him, but he’s too wrapped up in his own insecurities to think Lance’s notes are anything more than a practical joke.” Pidge looked almost shocked at the near essay that had just tumbled from her mouth and looked down at her hands, suddenly embarrassed to meet Hunk’s gaze. 

“Pidge, I need to ask you, honestly. Do you think Lance genuinely has a chance with Keith?” Hunk asked quietly, not sure whether he actually wanted to hear Pidge’s answer. A few moments passed as Pidge processed his question, the atmosphere becoming suddenly tense.

“Honestly? Yes, I think he has a chance. These past few weeks he’s been working on that English project with Lance have been the happiest I’ve seen him in a very long time. I daren’t say anything to him though as he has a penchant for self destructive tendencies… That bastard Daniel really screwed him up more than I think anyone realises- including Keith.” Pidge’s face soured at the memory of that infamous day. 

“What happened, with that whole situation? I mean, if you don’t mind me asking that is?” Hunk stuttered slightly, anxious to not further upset Pidge. His anxiety fell slightly as Pidge threw him a small smile before taking a deep breath and allowing herself to recall the events of freshman year. 

“I won’t bore you with the super long version of events Hunk, I am aware we’ve only got twenty minutes before we need to be back in class, so here’s the abridged version. Believe it or not, me and Keith used to be friends with Daniel. This was in middle school mind, before puberty and popularity started to hit. Anyway, by the time we started high school our friendship had dwindled into casual acquaintances as Daniel discovered he’d be more popular if he wasn’t associated with us.” 

“His loss.” Hunk added kindly as Pidge paused for breath. 

“Fast forward halfway through freshman year, Keith had already come out to me privately, which I found as surprising as if he’d told me the sky was blue, but for all intents and purposes he was still in the closet at school. So, one day he’s helping this girl with her essay who turns out to be one of Daniel’s friend’s girlfriend. Of course, idiot guy gets jealous and soon enough the whole group descend on poor oblivious Keith. Keith gets so wound up as they accuse him of trying to get with this girl he ends up accidentally outing himself to them. Honestly, the look on everyone’s face- Keith’s included was a picture. I manage to calm him down eventually and reassure him that the world as he knows it is not going to end, and for a while I was right. Of course it ended up going around the year but it was soon forgotten amongst all the other high school dramas that occured. That was until Daniel started messaging Keith…” 

“Oh no…” Hunk whispered involuntarily, both horrified and captivated by Pidge’s story.

“You can say that again. I told Keith to be careful, but Daniel was pretty convincing. Telling him all sorts of crap about how he’d always liked Keith as more than friends but he wasn’t ready to be publically out. At this point Keith is completely head over heels for him, writing poetry about him, the works. This carries on for weeks Hunk, literal weeks of him stringing Keith along. Eventually, he tells Keith he’s ready to be with him and to meet him in the cafeteria the following lunch, and well, you know the rest…” Pidge slumped further down in her seat, suddenly exhausted from reliving their darkest moments. 

“Actually, I don’t know the rest. I was off school sick that day, although I do remember being bombarded with texts from a distressed Lance…” Hunk said, trying to restore some lightness back into what had become a heavy conversation topic.

“Wait does that mean you didn’t see me absolutely and spectacularly lose my shit?!” Pidge asked, pulling herself upright. 

“No I didn’t, but why doesn’t that surprise me?” Hunk joked, glad to see some humour return to the smaller girl’s face. 

“Oh mate, it was truly something. I threw the entire contents of my lunch tray at him and kicked him in the balls. Suspended for a week, but man it was worth it.” Pidge took particular joy in remembering the exact facial expression Daniel made as her foot collided with his crotch. 

“He deserved it. What a dick. I suppose it goes without saying you guys were happy when his family moved states at the end of freshman year then?” 

“Happy is an understatement my dear friend. But yes, you can see now why Keith acts like, well, Keith.” Pidge added before throwing the last of her donut into her mouth, chewing thoughtfully. 

“Now, I know we said we wouldn’t interfere anymore…” She began, pausing to swallow. 

“Why do I feel like there’s a but coming.” Hunk sighed heavily as Pidge continued. 

“But. I suggest we engineer a few more encounters outside of school hours.” Her grin widened as Hunk groaned. 

“Pidge! Remember the coffee shop incident that we discussed like not even ten minutes ago?!”

“Yes.. we’ll need something involving less hot liquids, Lance is very accident prone… How about a games night, my parents are away visiting Matt at college next weekend so I’ve got a free house.” She added excitedly. 

“Okay, your plan is growing on me slightly. I can bring cake!” Hunk replied happily, already starting to mentally rifle through his recipes. 

“Focus Hunk! But yes, cake is always good. The more time they spend together the more likely Keith will accept the fact Lance isn’t just talking to him for the sake of their English project.” 

“You know, if they end up getting married, they better give us all of the credit in their wedding speeches.” Hunk laughed as Pidge enthusiastically nodded her agreement. With a slight shock Hunk realised he hadn’t once checked his phone since Pidge had hijacked his free period. His brow furrowed as he saw a long stream of messages from Lance. 

_Can’t believe you abandoned me for coding, now I have no excuse not to study._

_Also I think I’m finally starting to understand the significance of mockingbirds! It’s all down to Keith, he’s so amazing. He was wearing the cutest shirt today, I almost died._

_Huuuunk stop being a responsible student and reply to me!_

_Also if people still haven’t gotten their heads round the perfectly simple Miss Baltimore Crabs choreography tonight I will throw someone off the stage._

Hunk couldn’t help but roll his eyes at his best friend's stream of consciousness, and was in the process of typing out a quick reply when his phone buzzed with yet another message from Lance. 

_Erm, dude. Where are you? Rehearsal started five minutes ago! I’ve told Coran you’re on your way but you know what he’s like. Hurry.Up._

“Shit!” Hunk exclaimed as he checked the time on the dashboard and then again on his phone, just in case his truck was lying to him. Next to him he heard Pidge sigh deeply. 

“We were supposed to be back in school five minutes ago. Weren’t we?” She deadpanned. A quick glance at her own phone confirmed her fears that one, she was late for Geography and two, Keith was less than impressed with this fact.

“Fuck our lives.”


	15. Games Night

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A sizable chapter upload featuring awkward Klance interactions and at a semi reasonable time?! Say whaaat. 
> 
> As always,enjoy. xo

“Door’s open! My hands are full of flour sorry!” Lance chuckled slightly as he heard Hunk’s distant reply, moments after he had rung the doorbell. Gently easing the front door open, Lance inhaled deeply as he walked towards the kitchen.

“I’m picking up a hint of cinnamon, lemon and… double chocolate chips?” Lance queried, his mouth unintentionally beginning to water as the aroma of Hunk’s baking became stronger the further he stepped into the kitchen.

“I’m impressed. What do you think? Do you think there’s enough here?” Hunk asked, gesturing to the variety of baked goods that were piled onto cooling racks.

“Lemon cupcakes, double chocolate chip cookies and cinnamon buns? There’s probably enough here to feed the proverbial five thousand Hunk.” Lance joked as he reached out, fully intending to grab one of the cookies. His plan was however foiled, as Hank’s flour covered hand shot out, stopping Lance in his tracks.

“No! I know what you’re like, let you have one and all of a sudden we’ll be showing up to Pidge’s with nothing but empty boxes of crumbs.” Hunk chastised him, ignore the kicked puppy look Lance was now throwing his way.

“Fine, fine. But that cookie right there with the extra chocolate chips is mine as soon as we get there.” Lance grumbled, gently rubbing his now retracted hand.

“Deal. Now come on, help me box these up before we’re late.” Hunk agreed before throwing a plastic box towards Lance.

……..

The short car ride over to Pidge’s house had been an enjoyable affair. Lance had finally managed to get the Bluetooth in his car working, and the pair had been blasting the Hairspray soundtrack far louder than was probably acceptable. Lance had even gone so far to replicate some of his newly learnt dance moves whilst they waited at a red light- much to the delight of the teenage girls in the car next to them. Now however, as they’d pulled to a stop behind what was unmistakably Pidge’s car, Lance had drifted into an uncharacteristic silence. Hunk turned in his seat to look at his best friend, noting the way his brow had furrowed and his hands now held the steering wheel in a vice like grip.

“You’re stressing.” He said, his tone indicating this was a statement more than a question. Lance simply nodded in response, his eyes firmly fixed on the house in front of them.

“Talk to me dude.” Hunk probed gently, knowing how deep Lance could get into his own head.

“Keith’s in that house. Keith’s in that house right now.” He started saying, earning himself a confused glance from Hunk.

“Yes. Well at least I should hope so. Three’s always such an awkward number for games night, don’t you think?” Hunk replied lightly, smiling as he noticed Lance’s grip on the steering wheel lessen slightly.

“I just really really like him Hunk. I literally haven’t thought about another boy since I first saw him all those years ago. Working with him on this English project just reinforces that. And sometimes, he’ll say things, or I’ll catch him looking at me in a certain way, and it makes me feel that just maybe he likes me too. But then, it’s just gone, and I have no idea what to think.” Lance elaborated, silence engulfing the pair as Lance’s words settled in Hunk’s mind. His and Pidge’s conversation from the previous week floated around his head and he had to bite his lip to refrain from outright telling Lance what he had learnt about Keith.

“Lance… You’re a very emotional person, and I don’t mean that as a criticism at all so don’t start pouting at me. You’re constantly wearing your heart on your sleeve, I think you forget sometimes that not everyone is like that. I think that perhaps it’s not out of the realm of possibility that Keith is a lot more introverted than you, yes? I know you’d love him to, but he doesn’t quite strike me as the type to declare his undying love to you over an analysis of Boo Radley.” Hunk rationalised, feeling quite pleased with his response as he saw Lance’s hands slacken even further.

“But, we’re never going to be closer to finding out if Keith likes you back if we spend the rest of the night in your car. Also, yes, your hair looks great, no you haven’t got any food stuck in your teeth, and yes the blue shirt really compliments your skin tone. Now let’s move it McClain.” He ordered, nudging Lance lightly on the shoulder, before undoing his seatbelt and slowly removing himself from the car, taking great care not to drop the boxes of baked goods onto the ground.

“How did you know what I was going to ask?” He heard Lance mutter as he trudged behind him up the well kept driveway.

“Call it intuition.”

………..

Keith hums to himself distractedly as he waited for Pidge’s coffee machine to heat up. He’d offered to make them both drinks whilst Pidge finished bringing what Keith thought must be the entirety of her room, into the lounge. A few thuds and some rather choice words had Keith frowning at the ceiling above him.

“I know you’re a strong independent woman and all, but are you sure you don’t need any help with that?” He shouted up, laughing at the muffled string of profanities that were thrown his way.

“Suit yourself!” He replies, before retrieving their respective mugs from the kitchen cupboard, placing Pidge’s under the now at temperature coffee machine. He turns and rummages through the box of coffee pods until he manages to locate one labelled Americano. Pushing it into place he hears the familiar click and diverts his attention back to the box whilst Pidge’s cup slowly fills up.

 _I should really buy some Vanilla syrup for Pidge, y’know as a gift, yes, totally a gift._ He thought to himself idly, deftly switching out the used pod, and adding two sugars to Pidge’s coffee whilst his own latte poured.

“So, remind me again why we’re having this games night?” Keith asked Pidge, delicately placing her steaming cup onto the coffee, before raising an eyebrow at the mass of electronics that had appeared.

“One, it’s not often I have a free house and given the fact neither of us know enough people to throw a house party, a modest games night will have to do. Two, Hunk is a good friend and he also promised to bring baked goods, and you know I can’t resist baked goods. And three, it’ll do you good to socialise with people outside of school hours!” She fixed Keith with a pointed glare, daring him to disagree.

“Well, I hardly think the grand total of two people really counts as socialising.” He replied grumpily, before looking down and realising he’d left his latte in the kitchen. He let out a deep sigh as he turned away from Pidge and started to leave the lounge.

“Thought it’d be best to start you off small!”

………….

“Lance will you just knock? My hands are full if you hadn’t noticed?!”

“Why do I have to knock? Pidge is your friend!”

“I swear to god McClain, if I wasn’t holding some delicate pastries right now…”

“You’re closest to the door!”

“Oh so you want me to smash my head against the door in order to announce our arrival do you?”

“Don’t worry, that won’t be necessary.” Keith’s amused tone cut through Hunk and Lance’s debate as they both slowly turned to face him. Keith noted how Lance’s face was turning an increasingly interesting shade of red. _He’s even cuter when he blushes._ The thought floated into Keith’s mind before he could stop it and he could feel himself becoming flustered.

“Sorry we’re a bit late Keith, Lance was struggling with the concept of door knocking.” Hunk smiled sweetly at his best friend, quickly sidestepping the elbow Lance had jabbed towards him. Keith laughed at the exchange and stepped back to let the pair in.

“Lounge is just the first door on your right, I can’t promise that Pidge won’t mug you for your wares though Hunk.” Keith gestured vaguely behind him as Hunk laughed and stepped further into the house, leaving Lance alone in the hallway with Keith. Realising that Lance’s gaze was fixed firmly upon him, Keith found himself shuffling slightly on his feet and tugging self consciously at the cords on his hoodie.

“You erm, you can come in you know?” Keith’s words seemed to snap Lance out of his daydream, who once again blushed.

 _God damn it McClain stop blushing._ Keith thought to himself irritably.

“Sorry! Yes. Coming in. Now. I was just erm, trying to read your hoodie. Which is super cool by the way.” Lance stuttered slightly as he took a few more cautious steps inside, allowing Keith to finally close the front door.

“Thanks… I like your… shoes. Very colour coordinated.” Keith replied after a moment, before quickly wishing he hadn’t.

 _Shoes? Really. Couldn’t have gone with something more conventional like shirt? Thank God Pidge didn’t hear that._ He cringed, wishing the carpeted hallway would just open up and swallow him.

“Thank you! Finally someone who appreciates the art of coordinating an outfit, hear that Hunk! Keith likes my shoes!” Lance appeared unaffected by the awkwardness Keith felt and was instead beaming at the compliment he’d been offered. Keith had to supress his groan as he heard Pidge’s unmistakable cackle from the lounge, she wasn’t going to let him forget that one in a hurry.

_Kill me now._

………..

The evening passed in a comfortable blur, and to his surprise Keith found himself enjoying the company of Hunk and in particular, Lance. He had easily thrashed Hunk on one of Pidge’s vast collections of Street Fighter games, Lance however proved more of a challenge. Keith quickly found that Lance was more than a match for his skills, and they had quickly become locked in an intense battle. The final deciding round had been fraught with tension and Keith couldn’t remember the last time he had concentrated as hard. The whoop of joy he let out when his last-ditch efforts had KO’d Lance’s character echoed around the room. Turning to look at his opponent he couldn’t help but laugh at the shell-shocked look on Lance’s face, his jaw slack and his eyes wide.

“What. But. No! I was SO CLOSE.” Lance’s whine made Keith laugh and unthinkingly he reached across the sofa to gently pat the other boy on the shoulder. Enjoying the warmth and slight tingle he felt at the contact, he allowed his hand to linger a second longer than was strictly necessary.

“Better luck next time McClain.” He laughed, the nickname rolling off his tongue with ease. 

_What is happening to me?_

“Oh you better believe next time, you’re going down Kogane.” Lance shot back, his expression now morphing into a mischievous grin. The words sent another small burst of electricity through Keith, along with the promise of a next time.

 _Wait. Is this. Are we. Flirting?_ Keith’s head span slightly at the thought as he found himself captivated by Lance’s deep brown eyes. The sound of throats clearing and muffled laughter broke through the pair’s wordless exchange, and this time Keith knew Lance’s blush was mirrored on his own cheeks.

“If you two are quite done. I think it’s time I demonstrated my quite frankly outstanding MarioKart skills.” Pidge declared pointedly.

“Oh Pidge, I have been training for this my whole life.” Lance countered as he casually lent over Keith to retrieve his hot chocolate.

“Hey congrats on not decorating my outfit with it this time.” Keith said quickly, trying to distract himself from their sudden close proximity.

“Give it time.” Lance’s surprisingly smooth reply came, and Keith was sure the boy had just winked at him.

Taking a small sip from his own coffee, Keith knew deep down that it was not the cause of the warmth that was slowly spreading through his stomach.

_Fuck. My. Life._


	16. Invites

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Uploading this at 4am because I no longer have a working concept of time or a sleeping pattern. It is a tad filler-y but it's building up to some more exciting things.   
> Stay safe   
> Enjoy xo

“Okay, take a twenty minute break everyone… Lance, Hunk, we need to run Welcome to the 60s again. Preferably without the literal butting of heads.” Coran raised his eyebrows pointedly at the awkward heap of tangled limbs on the stage before him. A weak thumbs up appeared from the pile as affirmation his words had been heard, rolling his eyes he turned and walked briskly out of the auditorium.

“Is he trying to kill us?” Lance’s complaint was muffled slightly by the stage floor.

“I think we’re going a pretty good job of that ourselves...” Hunk winced as he attempted to disentangle himself from Lance.

“In our defence, right, left, up, down, they’re all one and the same really.” Lance replied, slightly triumphantly as he managed to separate his legs from Hunk’s. Rolling onto his back he closed his eyes, feeling the exhaustion wash over him.

“Senior year is hard.”

“Tell me about it. I feel like I’ve blinked and now it’s nearly the end of October. I can’t remember the last time we did anything fun.” Hunk grumbled in agreement., debating whether to pull himself into an upright position. His aching limbs made the decision for him and he instead opted to copy Lance’s pose.

“Three weeks. Four days. And about seven hours. Keith was wearing that adorable gray hoodie that really brought out his eyes...” Hunk rolled his own, distinctly unimpressed eyes and gently nudged Lance in the side.

  
“Alright Casanova, calm down.” He joked, laughing as the dreamy look on his best friend’s face morphed into one of annoyance.

“Hey, I’ve got to cling onto all the happy memories I can, those notes are fast turning back into our only form of communication.” Lance sighed heavily; in between college applications, rehearsals and general life his interactions with Keith had been limited to their weekly project meeting. Lance’s attempts at starting conversations in English class had been thwarted both by Keith’s inability to be sneaky and Shiro’s over attentiveness. A week’s worth of lunch time detentions had prevented Lance from reattempting that idea.

“I hope you two are coordinating your rights from your lefts over here.” Shay’s voice cut through Lance’s musing and he noted with some amusement the way Hunk shot upright, face darkening slightly.

_I must remember to question him about this later…_ He smirked to himself.

Allowing his eyes to close once more he found his mind wandering, as always, back to Keith Kogane.

“ _Lance! I’ve been looking everywhere for you!” The unmistakable tone of Keith’s voice floated through Lance’s locker, startling the boy currently trying to retrieve a textbook from the bottom of a precariously balanced pile._

“ _Shit.” he hissed as his head collided with metal, gingerly extracting himself he was met with a strangely animated Keith._

“ _Well, here I am!” Lance gestured awkwardly to himself with his free hand._

“ _I need to ask you something.” Keith said urgently, a strange glint in his eyes._

“ _Oh, is it about the report? I’m really sorry Keith I haven’t finished reading your notes yet, I promise I’ll have them back to you by tom...” The rest of his words were cut off as Keith suddenly leaned forward, placing a finger to Lance’s lip._

“ _No, it’s not about the report. I haven’t been able to stop thinking about you Lance. You. Me. Dinner. Tonight? What do you think?”_

“ _What do you think?”_

“ _What do you think?”_

“EARTH TO LANCE GOD DAMN MCCLAIN!”

“What?! Jesus wept Hunk are you trying to kill me?!” Lance shouted, bolting upright as he was rudely pulled from his daydream. Ignoring the laughter from around the auditorium Lance focused his accusing glare on Hunk and Shay. Hunk met Lance’s glare with a knowing smirk of his own.

“Sorry, miles away.” Lance muttered eventually.

“Yeah I bet you were.” Hunk mumbled under his breath.

“Anyway! I was just telling Hunk that my parents are away at Halloween. House party. What do you think?” Shay asked excitedly and Lance felt a smile creep across his face.

“Finally! Something fun! I think that’s an excellent idea Shay.” Lance replied enthusiastically, already beginning to mentally plan his outfit

“Amazing. Feel free to invite a few people. Don’t go crazy though, otherwise you can pay to have my house cleaned. Right, I better go ask the others, catch you guys later.” She told them, her smile lingering on Hunk before she pulled herself to her feet and skipped away.

“Okay. Me and you. We’re talking about that later.” Lance gestured towards the receding figure of Shay before turning his full attention back to Hunk.

“Not a chance. Anyway, you know what this means right?” Hunk told Lance, laughing as confusion settled on the other boy’s face.

“Erm, coordinating fancy dress outfits?” He asked, still confused.

“No! Well, yes, actually we need to think of something good this year, I refuse to be the mustard to your ketchup, again.” Hunk scowled as the memory of last Halloween floated unwanted into his mind.

“Hey, those costumes were amazing and you know it. Besides I couldn’t be mustard, yellow washes me out.”

“I don’t know if amazing is quite the word… Stop it, you’re distracting me. Shay said we could invite people, right?” Hunk reminded Lance, who was still looking at him bemusedly.

“Yes? Your point?” Hunk resisted the urge to roll his eyes at his best friend.

“God you’re dense. Shay said we could invite whoever we wanted? So who is it that you’ve been looking for the opportunity to spend more time with outside of English class?” Hunk added, smiling as he could see his point landing.

“Oh Hunk, I knew there was a reason I kept you around. This is going to be perfect. I’ll invite Keith. He’ll be wowed by our amazing costumes and confess his undying love to me over the punch bowl.” Lance babbled excitedly, his mind racing.

“Lance. I know that look. Stop plotting five million different ways of asking Keith to the party and just do it when you next see him. And please. Try and focus. I want to make it through the rest of the rehearsal with all my limbs intact.” Hunk replied sternly, and as if on cue the auditorium door swung open as Coran re -entered, clutching a much needed coffee.

“Welcome to the 60s minus the headbutting. Let’s go!”


	17. Halloween Part 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As the chapter title probably indicates I'm splitting the party into two parts! 
> 
> Enjoy, as always, I had fun writing this chapter. xo

The heavy bass reverberated through Keith’s skull and he frowned at the slightly ajar front door. Tugging self consciously on the sleeve of his outfit he turned to face his best friend. Pidge grimaced and to Keith’s surprise she looked uncharacteristically anxious.

“We could just turn round and go home?...” His voice trailed off as he bit his bottom lip. Truth be told, he wanted to stay, and he knew full well why.

_Lance McClain._

Not that he hadn’t been skeptical when he had seen Lance barreling down the hallway towards him, eyes shining with enthusiasm. He had heard the words _party_ and _Halloween_ tumble from the boy’s mouth and was already preparing excuses in his own head.

Keith Kogane did not do parties.

He had opened his mouth, fully intending to tell Lance thank you but no.

But then Lance had smiled. An amazing, genuine, dazzling smile, and Keith felt his heart stutter.

“ _Please?”_

So instead of saying no, Keith had said yes. In fact, Keith had thought to himself later once he had recovered his senses, that Lance could’ve asked him anything in that moment and he’d probably have said yes.

Which was how he had now found himself stood outside an unfamiliar door, in a very unfamiliar setting, dressed as Harry Potter.

“What, and forever be known as those losers who never attended a single senior year house party? Absolutely not. Also, I promised Hunk I’d team up with him for beer pong.” Pidge’s confident tone cut a striking difference from the look on her face, but Keith could see the resolute look in her eyes.

“It’ll be fine once we’re in there. And even if not, we’ve got the age old tactic of resorting to alcohol.” He grinned back, holding up the bottle he had firmly clutched in his free hand.

“Very true. Although why you’ve insisted on bringing that god awful cinnamon whisky is beyond me.” She replied, grimacing at the offending bottle.

“Because it’s the closest thing to FireWhisky and if I have to dress up I intend to remain as in character as possible.” Keith replied, before throwing a pointed glance towards the bottle of tequila wedged under Pidge’s arm.

“Besides, it tastes far superior to the lethal substance masquerading as alcohol that you’ve brought, nor would I say it’s particularly in character for The Doctor.” He added jokingly.

“On the contrary, I think that tequila perfectly captures of essence of the David Tennant era Doctor, based on his chaotic yet often dark portrayal of the Time Lord...” Pidge began, fully prepared to launch into a heated debate before the front door was flung widely open.

  
The sudden increase in noise and cheap strobe lighting startled the pair out of their conversation as they turned to face the door, both feeling increasingly awkward.

Keith let out a small sigh of relief has he recognised the looming figure standing above them.

“I spotted you from the window, thought it might be nice to have a familiar face to walk into here with.” Hunk’s warm voice carried through the night and Keith gave him a grateful smile.

“Let me guess. Harry Potter and the Tenth Doctor?” He asked after briefly appraising their outfits.

“I’m impressed Hunk, didn’t have you down as a Doctor Who fan.” Pidge replied happily, taking a step closer to him, Keith quickly following behind.

“I’m gonna guess from all of the green paint that you’re the Hulk?” Keith asked, laughing as he noticed the paint covering the majority of Hunk’s exposed skin.

  
“Got it in one. Lance was all for me going shirtless but I reassured him no matter how much alcohol was consumed no one would want to see that.” Hunk replied and Keith once more felt his heart skip at the mention of Lance’s name.

_Seriously get a grip._

“I’m glad you’re finally here, Lance can stop staring out of the window like a lost puppy now.” Hunk gestured to the pair but his eyes unconsciously came to rest on Keith. In that moment, Keith was grateful for the poor lighting as he was sure his face had turned a similar colour to the Gryffindor tie around his neck.

_Don’t blow this._ He thought to himself resolutely as he followed Hunk’s receding figure into the cacophony of noise.

………….

Carefully weaving through the groups of people congregating in the lounge, Lance found himself growing increasingly irritated by the sudden absence of his best friend. Making his way into the slightly quieter kitchen he placed the two shot glasses he’d been carrying onto the counter top, sighing as some of the contents of one splashed erratically over the side and on to Lance’s hand.

 _Guess this one is mine then._ Lance thought absentmindedly to himself, before pouring the rest of the shot down his throat. Enjoying the way it warmed his insides he glanced once more up at the clock. He had told Keith the party was starting at 8. It was now 8:45.

“ _Lance. No one ever arrives to a party at the exact time you tell them. Do they?” Hunk had tried to reason as Lance had once more found himself staring forlornly out of the window._

“ _Now. Stop moping Captain America. Go and get us some drinks, they’ll be here when they’re here.”_

Now Hunk was nowhere to be found and Keith had yet to make an appearance. Lance could feel his mood begin to sour until he caught a flash of green out of the corner of his eye.

_Finally!_ He thought to himself, picking up the remaining shot glass and opening his mouth to shout across the room.

No sound came out as he laid eyes on the figure that stepped out from behind Hunk.

_Harry Potter._ Lance thought to himself smiling.

_Of course he would come as Harry Potter._

Lance stood, rooted to the spot as he observed Keith from a distance.

Everything about the boy made his heart hurt.

_He’s gorgeous._

“Oi! There you are! Been looking everywhere for you!” Hunk’s booming voice cut through Lance’s daydreaming and he quickly rearranged his features into what he hoped was a relaxed grin.

“Oh great, is that my drink?” Hunk added as he eagerly reached out for the remaining shot glass in Lance’s outstretched hand.

Lance was quicker however, and hurriedly drained the shot, as his gaze flickered back to Keith, who looked even better close up.

“You snooze you lose, sorry.” Lance winked at Hunk who huffed indignantly.

“Nice outfit.” Keith cut in before the pair could descend into petty squabbling, his eyes moving appreciatively over Lance’s very flattering, rather skin tight Captain America attire.

“Thank you! I do have a mask lying around somewhere...” Lance’s voice tailed off as he felt himself blush at the compliment, silently wishing he’d kept the stupid mask on to disguise the redness he was sure was radiating from his face.

“Fireball anyone?” Keith added quickly, aware of the silence that had fallen upon the group. Pidge’s groan was met with curious stares from the two other boys.

“Ignore Pidge, it’s actually quite nice.” Keith laughed as he carefully opened the bottle and poured the amber coloured liquid into the shot glasses Hunk had helpfully lined up. Lance tried his best to ignore the jolt of electricity that ran through him when his fingers brushed Keith’s as he took the shot glass from him.

“To irresponsible teen drinking.” He said to the group, holding his shot glass aloft. Encouraged by the smile Keith offered him, he quickly followed his lead and tilted his head back, allowing the fireball to rush down his throat.

His eyes immediately began to water and he worked hard to suppress the cough that was trying to force its way out of his body.

“Jesus it burns!” He heard Hunk splutter, verbalising Lance’s thoughts. He took small relief in the fact he wasn’t the only one suffering.

“Mischief managed.” Keith declared as he surveyed the faces of his friends. Squinting through his watering eyes, Lance realised Keith looked completely unaffected.

“You actually like this stuff? It tastes like a spicy cinnamon bun!” He asked in a slightly squeaky voice.

“That’s one way of describing it.” Pidge muttered, a disgusted expression painted on her face. She reached for the stack of clean shot glasses and fumbled with her own bottle of tequila.

  
“Hey, if I open that for you can I have a shot?” Hunk asked her, also desperate to remove the fiery cinnamon after taste of the fireball shot. Taking advantage of their distraction Lance returned his attention to the dark haired boy stood in front of him.

“I wasn’t sure you were gonna come.” He said, the shots giving him a new found sense of bravery.

“What, and miss the opportunity to show off my Gryffindor robes?” Keith joked as he gently adjusted the oversized glasses resting on the bridge of his nose.

  
“I should have guessed your love for all things literary extended beyond To Kill A Mockingbird.” Lance easily shot back, grateful for the liquid confidence the alcohol had granted him.

Their moment was interrupted by a slightly intoxicated Shay charging towards them, and Lance had to work to fight down the sudden burst of annoyance he felt towards his friend.

“I’ve found them!” She called to seemingly no one over her shoulder before wrapping herself around Hunk’s arm. Lance had to stifle a laugh and he knew under that green face paint Hunk was definitely blushing.

  
“I didn’t realise you were looking for us.” Hunk smiled down at her.

“Yes! Oh are these your friends? Lovely to meet you!” She said smiling widely at the trio.

  
“This is Shay, she’s the one who has kindly offered her house up as tribute tonight.” Hunk explained to Pidge and Keith who smiled warmly in return.

“Shay, this is Pidge and Keith.”

“Excellent! I hope you guys are good at beer pong, come on lets go!” She turned and pulled Hunk with a surprising amount of strength towards the lounge. Lance couldn’t help but laugh as Hunk turned, rather ungraciously and gestured for them to follow him.

“Looks like we have been summoned.” He laughed before following Hunk’s receding figure.

“Now that is America’s ass.” Pidge quipped, as she followed Keith’s line of sight. Earning herself a swift elbow to the ribs from a now furiously blushing Keith.

_So worth it._ She reasoned before pulling him towards the others.

“Come on, beer pong! This will be fun!” She told him, all traces of the earlier anxiety now gone from her face. Sighing to himself Keith tried to allow himself to relax as he felt the music increase and the space around him become significantly more crowded.

_Come on Kogane, lighten up. What’s the worst that could happen?_


End file.
